Earth Who
by Douglas Neman
Summary: This story starts 10 minutes after the DW 1996 TV movie, and takes place between the E2 eps "Flower Child" and "All About Eve." The Doctor lands on G889 to recover from his regeneration, but adventure awaits. He joins forces with Eden Advance to outwit a ruthless, calculating ZED which seems indestructible, and which won't stop until its mission is achieved.
1. Excerpt

**Subject: An Important Crossover Announcement**

 _ssssssssssssssssss-crackle-static-crackle_

We temporarily interrupt this program to bring you an excerpt from another TV show:

 **Bambera:** "Well done, Zbigniev! Two complete strangers walk up with a couple of antiquated pass cards, and you let them in! Why?"

 **Zbigniev:** "Sir?"

 **Bambera:** "You know something – what is it?"

 **Zbigniev:** "Off the record, sir?"

 **Bambera:** "Off the record."

 **Zbigniev:** "When I served under Lethbridge-Stewart, we had a scientific adviser called, 'the Doctor.'"

 **Bambera:** "The man outside?"

 **Zbigniev:** "No, sir, but..."

 **Bambera:** "But?"

 **Zbigniev:** "He changed his appearance – several times."

 **Bambera:** "A disguise!"

 **Zbigniev:** "No, sir. The word was, he changed his whole physical appearance."

 **Bambera:** "His whole appearance..."

 **Zbigniev:** "And his personality."

 **Bambera:** "How could he be the same man if his appearance and personality had changed?"

 **Zbigniev:** "I don't know, sir."

 **Bambera:** "What _do_ you know, Zbigniev?"

 **Zbigniev:** "Just that when this Doctor turns up –"

 **Bambera:** "Yes?"

 **Zbigniev:** "All hell breaks loose!"

\- _Doctor Who_ , "Battlefield"


	2. Chapter 1

When the Doctor read the same paragraph five times and still didn't know what it said, he decided he'd had enough.

He'd regenerated. He'd _sworn_ he wouldn't get depressed about it, but here he was, unable to finish his book no matter how hard he concentrated. He set it down on the table beside him, briefly regretting his decision to turn down Grace's offer, even though he knew he'd make the same choice a million times over. Would make? He already had, a million times over.

Over a thousand years. One of his human companions (he couldn't remember which one) had asked him once what it was like to live a thousand years. He'd been flippant, telling her he'd know when he got there. He should have told her it was hard on the memory, for it was. Not that he _couldn't_ remember things, but everything was running together, like a dream about a waterfall rushing faster and faster.

Less than a day before, he'd regenerated for the seventh time. Eight bodies – one born, the others...each blooming and growing from the one before, that original body reshaped and remolded again and again, the cells rearranged to save his life and clear away some mortal wound which would have killed someone else. He only had five regenerations left. Now he was beginning to realize why the Time Lords limited themselves to twelve – any more, and a person just couldn't stand it.

Morosely, he stood in front of a dusty mirror in the console room, looking again at this stranger before him. Who was he? Just another face, just another persona. Each regeneration of a Time Lord was a different side of a multi-faceted gem, and now it was his turn to shine. His seventh self was still thrashing inside him in a fever, trying to get off the operating table, trying to live. But he hadn't made it. He'd died, and a new self had been born, a new rearrangement of the brain cells.

A body, K'Anpo once told him, was simply a projection – an extension – into the physical plane. It was nothing more than an image representing the vast, impossibly complex soul inside it. People of other species got older, he'd pointed out, their bodies growing and changing, first becoming stronger and then frailer over the years. And the person within the body also changed as childhood was left behind and new things were learned. _Everyone_ changed.

It was just that Time Lords changed suddenly instead of gradually, and grew older in a much different way. And if the projection took a new shape, and different aspects of the person were stirred to the surface, the soul inside was still the same, and the light in the eyes could shine just as brightly.

He was still the Doctor.

He looked at the mirror, at his new face, his new projection, and turned his head side to side in a so-so manner. He was rather handsome, if he did say so himself. He was taller, his dress sense was still conservative, his dark hair was shoulder-length and wavy, his eyes had darkened slightly. He thought briefly about his seventh self – about the mysteriousness he liked to blindside people with, and the plans and schemes he'd been making, and he shuddered.

It always happened this way. After every regeneration, he was soon looking back on his previous self, wondering what he'd been thinking, like an older man looking back on days of youth and wondering, "Just who was that, and why did I do what I did?"

The Doctor shrugged it off. After all the years, and all the life and death, and the friends come and gone, he'd long ago learned to _let go,_ that every closed door opened another. That was why he hadn't dwelt too long on not staying with Grace. He knew where his hearts were.

They were in a place which knew no boundaries.

The TARDIS was his home, and all of time and space was his to see. Every year, he'd lived and learned more than any of his fellow Time Lords would in a lifetime, no matter how many books they read or treatises they wrote. They still hid safely – stagnant, unreachable, _untouchable_ – behind Gallifrey's impregnable barrier.

But it was a trade-off, this eccentric lifestyle of his. His life would be shorter. Over half his regenerations – in only a fraction of his natural life span – were gone, because of the adventures he kept finding himself in, because he just couldn't bear to stand by and watch people suffer when there was something he could do. At this rate, he would die a young man. Die having lived.

He shrugged that off, too. He'd also learned long ago that life was just one paradox after another, and insane asylums were filled to the brim with people who tried to figure them out.

He went to the console and scanned for the nearest uninhabited planet. He hadn't moved too far from Earth, and had drifted only a couple of centuries into the future. The TARDIS was as tired after their ordeal with the Master as he was, he thought. He needed to meditate and slow his metabolism after his regeneration, and for once, he didn't want to be cooped up in the Zero Room. Or did he have the Zero Room any more? He couldn't remember. It didn't matter. He needed some open space, some sunshine, and some quiet. For a little while.

* * *

Sweating, True looked out of the TransRover's cab over the hills around them, and the stretch of mountains which curved to the north, into her field of vision. She knew if she followed the line of mountains back with her eyes, she'd see the range sweep behind them. But she didn't look. She never wanted to see those mountains again. Not after being trapped in them all winter, freezing, starving, and bickering.

All those months of cold, praying and offering anything for some warmth, and now she was sweating bullets. The TransRover's air conditioner had broken – ironically, it was the months of freezing temperatures which had damaged it – and dad hadn't had the time to fix it because there was always something more important to do. And they couldn't go fast enough to make a breeze, because most people walked.

But she'd finally given in to her tired feet and hopped up next to her dad, because the dunerail was already occupied, and Alonzo was scouting ahead with the ATV. Not because he really needed to, but probably just so he could feel wind on his face. She sighed.

"Dad, if you don't fix the air conditioner tonight, I will."

John Danziger glanced sideways at his ten-year-old daughter – almost eleven, now – with a wry smile. He knew she wasn't kidding. "You don't have to worry, pal. It's first on my list after supper, or someone else will be driving this thing tomorrow. You'll still help me, right?"

"Adair said we were resting tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?" He looked at her again. "Good. We could suuuure use it. And her name's 'Devon.'"

"You call her 'Adair.'"

"Yeah, but somehow, it just doesn't sound right comin' from you." He keyed his gear for voice, leaving it draped around his neck. "Hey, Adair, we get to sleep in tomorrow? That's what True said."

He could see Devon about 50 yards ahead. He saw her key her own gear while agreeing with Yale about something, then heard her voice in his ears. "Yes, that's what you wanted, wasn't it?"

"Well, yeah...sure," he answered. "I guess. Are we stoppin' on my account?"

"True told me you needed a day to make some repairs to the TransRover."

Danziger's eyes found True staring straight ahead, biting both her lips.

"She did, huh?"

"Yes, she did."

"Well, there is some work I could do on it, so far as it goes. But my daughter doesn't always quite live up to her name."

"It's all right, John." Devon traded a tired smile with Yale, who was listening on his own gear. "I think we were going to take a day off anyway. I'm pretty sure we'll be hitting a stream before nightfall."

"All right. Danziger out."

He looked at True again, who was busy examining her hands in her lap. He just shook his head and kept on driving. What, oh what, could he _possibly_ say?

Yale was laughing lightly in a way that was downright infectious. "I sometimes pity John for having such a spirited girl on his hands," he said. As always, he made Devon smile, made the load on her back only a fraction of what it could have been.

"Listen," he said. "You're on the roster for making dinner tonight. Why don't I take it? You stayed up half the night poring over survey maps."

"Yale, I-"

"And I know you're going to do the same again tonight, because you want to make sure we aren't delayed by another four months somewhere."

Devon tried to protest again, then realized what Yale said was true. She was exhausted. And he knew perfectly well it had been much more than half the night.

"Thank you, Yale. I could use it."

She squeezed his arm to let him know she appreciated him, and wondered again what she would have done without him. Others she had known, even sometimes Commander O'Neill, had looked at Yale as a necessary burden, a good tutor, but someone who would just take up space and be an extra mouth to feed beyond that. The truth was, he was an anchor in her topsy-turvy world, and had been for almost two decades. Especially since O'Neill's death – when the universe had ripped away her other anchor, barely two days after the crash.

Only Yale knew how hard she'd cried. Only Yale knew how close she'd come to despair that night, and how she'd felt so ashamed of herself for doing that. That night, before the Terrians had taken Uly, she'd felt eerily like Commander O'Neill himself was telling her to get her ass up and take care of her son and take care of herself and stop worrying about him. And she had so desperately wanted to believe it was really him talking to her.

And then, by a miracle, Broderick O'Neill came back.

And then he'd been ripped away again. Her only consolation was that the second time, he'd known how good a friend he'd been to her. She'd made it a point to tell him, terrified of that God-awful pit in her soul that came from losing a friend without ever telling him what he meant. He'd brushed her off, as afraid of deep emotions as she was sometimes, but she'd planted herself squarely in front of him and _made_ him listen.

And it was a damned good thing she had.

She glanced back to the TransRover at John Danziger, the man who had become, despite herself, another anchor time and time again – an anchor which sometimes pulled a little too hard, but an anchor nevertheless. At the moment, he was waving his right arm in a circle, evidently emphasizing some finer point of his lecture to True.

Boy, did she know what it was like being a parent.

Her own nine-year-old child, Ulysses, was walking along, carrying that staff he'd made, with the ribbon tied to it in a way which seemed important, symbolic. It was the first time in his life that he hadn't really talked with her about something he'd made and obviously cared for. He wasn't being secretive about it. It was just... _personal,_ somehow. He'd just made it one day, and that was that – and he hadn't excitedly run to her to tell her what he'd made, like he normally would have.

Devon had never told anyone, even Yale, about the Ulysses she'd met in her dreams, a young man from the future. It was only a possible future, but still, she knew as he got older he would tell her less and less, as he became his own person and claimed his own life. And some things, as a woman teaching a boy, she wouldn't be able to help him with at all. He would probably turn to Yale more and more if she didn't get him a father. Not that there was anything wrong with Yale – she just really wished she could find a father for her son.

And a man for herself.

Besides, Uly didn't just need help and guidance to be a man someday. No, as if that wasn't enough, he was a link between two entire species who would be sharing the same planet. And whether that planet's living ecosystem accepted them or not, for now at least, depended entirely upon him. Hopefully, other children on the colony ship could become links, too. But Alonzo, translating as best he could, had repeatedly called Uly "the link."

Not, _"a_ link."

" _The_ link."

Devon secretly wondered if the Terrians had cured Uly of the Syndrome only because he was their link, and whether they would do the same for the others when they arrived.

She didn't like to think about it.

Regardless of whether there would be others, Uly was the first, and for now, the only. Devon couldn't imagine what pressures and what choices might lie ahead for her son as he would pave the way for others...her precious little boy, whom she'd saved by sacrificing one of the biggest personal fortunes in human history. The burden on him would perhaps be far greater than the one she carried now, trying to get this group safely across a continent.

She took little comfort that he apparently did not share her worries. He was obviously too young right now to know the magnitude of all that had happened lately. And perhaps that was for the best. For now, he just walked along, being a nine-year-old boy.

A nine-year-old boy with the beginnings of a Terrian staff.

She watched briefly as Baines walked past Uly, unshouldering a magpro. He strode up next to the dunerail, driven by Julia, as it rattled along, and tapped Morgan on the shoulder. Morgan was lying back in the front passenger seat as best he could, getting a sunburn which he would no doubt later ask Julia to cure.

"Time's up, Morgan," Baines said. "Here ya go." He handed him the weapon, and Julia stopped so he could get out.

Morgan took one look and groaned softly, his head rolling around. But he took the gun and climbed out of his seat, looking as stiff as he felt. Baines climbed in while Morgan took his turn to guard the tiny caravan from whatever might threaten it. Bess, seeing her husband awake, caught up to walk with him. Magus took her turn at guard duty, relieving Cameron of another magpro.

"Hey, everybody!" Devon heard Alonzo's voice over her gear. "I've found running water and a bee- _yoo_ -tiful place to camp. I will be waiting here for all you slowpokes!"

"Hey 'Lonz, make me a bed so I can crash as soon as I get there?" Danziger asked tiredly.

"Oh, why did he have to say 'crash?'" Morgan whispered to Bess, shaking his head.

"How long until we reach you, Alonzo?" Devon asked.

"You should be here in about two hours. I'm starting a simple transmit for you to home in on."

"We'll do that," she answered.


	3. Chapter 2

Halfway up a gentle slope, a koba poked around for food. It looked up, alarmed, as a wheezing, groaning sound filled the air, rising and falling. It got louder with every wave of noise, and before its eyes, a blue box with a flashing light on top shimmered into existence in the meadow. It became completely solid as the wheezing ground to a final _thud._

The koba tilted its head, watching. Being a simple animal, it didn't worry about how impossible this was. It was just curious as to what would happen next.

One side of the box opened, and a creature stepped out.

The koba's eyes grew wide, and its head tilted back the other way. Friend or foe? it thought. It might have food, it thought. It might want _me_ for food, it thought.

The Doctor spotted the koba, and smiled. "Oh, how do you do?" He reached up to doff his hat, and found that he wasn't wearing one.

His hat. Yes, of course. That was how his seventh self had greeted everyone. But he wasn't wearing a hat, and had no intention of doing so. He shook his head. Personalities were still switching places inside him. He would get over it.

"Well, little friend," he continued softly, locking the TARDIS door behind him. "Are you intelligent? My instinct says you're not, simply by the size of your cranium and the fact that you seem to be feeding like an animal rather than most intelligent species. However, I have been wrong before, so allow me to introduce myself. I'm the Doctor." He smiled.

The koba stared back, fascinated.

"Ah. Well, I seem to be right on target this time. Which is good. Solitude is really what I wanted, after all." His gaze ran over the hills around him, and the large, thin, circular clouds which stretched on over the horizon, like pancakes flipped from a spatula onto some impossibly huge blue ceiling, and took a deep breath. "Ah, wonderful! Open sky, open land, good gravity, good air!" He patted the TARDIS. "That's my girl. Just what the Doctor ordered!"

The TARDIS ignored the pun, waiting dutifully.

The Doctor could tell his ship was ignoring the jest. He had a rapport with his time machine, and he owed his life to her several times over. In his hearts, he told her to rest easy. Then he turned and walked up the hillside.

The koba made a little purr of interest and ran after him.

"Excellent!" the Doctor cried when he reached the top. Down the opposite slope was a stream, about 30 feet wide, with trees lining both sides of it. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he turned in all directions. No people, very few animals, or even _signs_ of animals. A mountain range rose up behind him, spanning the horizon, curving a little bit westward far to the north.

Glancing around for the little creature he'd met, he found it at his feet – imitating him, with its hand over its eyes, surveying the surrounding land.

He laughed, and the koba put down its hand, looked up, and laughed also. It had already decided upon _friend_ – there was something about the stranger's eyes which said that right away – and was having no difficulty at all making the jump from there to _maybe it will feed me._

"Come on, little one," the Doctor said, and made his way to the water. After a few minutes he found an exposed tree root at the water's edge which was sturdy enough to sit on, and positioned just well enough to lean back against the tree trunk. He took off his shoes and socks and soaked his feet in the cool water, feeling it rush past and tickle him. He hoped vaguely that no killer fish, plants, algae, trees, grass, or cute little killer creatures were nearby.

He closed his eyes. He felt the tree at his back, felt the sunlight sparkling through the shade, saw it dance redly through his eyelids, felt the wind when it blew, felt the stillness of everything when it didn't, like a whole continent asleep on a lazy afternoon.

He felt the world.

Slowly, his heart rate dropped. The sunlight on his eyelids faded away, and a deep rhythm started within his whole body, starting with the brain waves, cycling in time to his double heartbeat, even taking into account the water running past and over his feet, into the future.

The koba sat nearby and watched the Doctor slip into a deep, recuperative coma. After a while, it became obvious that the stranger was not going to give it any food. It started nosing around for insects in the mud.

There was a familiar rustle, and the koba looked up at the Terrian on the opposite bank. It was quickly joined by two more, popping straight up out of the ground.

The Terrians stood, observing the stranger, their heads slowly tilting from side to side. One of them made a light, musical noise, like a soft howl, not loud enough to disturb him. Then they trilled and gurgled to each other. But what they decided, the koba did not know.

As one, they dropped back into the earth.

And something nudged the Doctor awake.

He couldn't tell what it was. He wanted to wave the person away. Couldn't whoever it was see that he was meditating?

But it was important; life-threatening, even. Threatening to the world. Threatening to everyone, and to the tree he was sitting on, and his newfound little friend. He must get up. He was in danger, too.

The Doctor's eyes drifted open. He reluctantly pulled himself out of the trance, and wearily rubbed his face with one hand. He wasn't finished yet.

He started to tell whomever had woken him this when he gradually realized that no one was there.

The koba was a few feet away, looking expectantly, almost as if it was waiting for him to do something so it could follow.

The Doctor groggily reached out a hand, as if to ask the koba if it had woken him, but he knew it hadn't been the animal. No, some intelligence – some vast intelligence, with a healthy dose of wisdom on the side – had just contacted him mentally. It hadn't exactly been asking for help, yet it was trying to warn him of immense danger.

The Doctor started to get up when a whining, buzzing sound rapidly filled his ears, and with a sharp _crack,_ a bullet hit the ground on the opposite side of the stream, ricocheting off into the hills beyond.

He blinked, and whipped his head around to see who had fired.

No one.

The koba was purring loudly in alarm, its eyes wide. The Doctor raised himself from the bank, cautiously peering around a tree. The koba did the same.

He tried to make note of any place a sniper could wait, hidden by the grass, or an outcropping of rock. After about a minute, he realized that would take all day. He needed to try another approach.

So he asked himself, "Why?" Why would someone shoot at him? Why only one shot? Why from a distance, hiding? And why was it such a _poor_ shot? Why-

Wait a minute, he thought. From a distance...perhaps the bullet came from a great distance, indeed. It was possible an Earth settlement was relatively close, perhaps within ten or 20 miles, and an automated sentry had fired a long-range weapon upon detecting him. That might explain the poor marksmanship, and would certainly explain why no follow-up attack was happening. Or, it might have been a warning.

The Doctor thought for a moment. If someone was waiting nearby with his head in the crosshairs, he would have fired again by now. He quickly pulled his shoes and socks back on and ran back to the TARDIS. The koba followed. No one shot at him.

He entered, crossed the console room, and started digging madly through a closet, throwing out notebooks, diaries, an old bottle, a box of diamonds, fishing equipment, a picture of Romana (he glanced at it, stuffed it in his pocket), a cardboard box full of broken watches, a bag of marbles, a deck of cards (which he also pocketed), a kite, a winning lottery ticket from Angarius IV – ah, the electron magnet! he thought, as he pulled out an electronic device which resembled a cross between an iron and a trowel, with two mesh straps looped to one side of it. He ran back outside.

While he was doing this, the koba had paused at the doorway, looking inside with wonder. The blue entrance was very small – it could have run around it in about three seconds – but inside, it was enormous! The koba thought it must have been a cave, but there was no slope going into the ground. Still, it didn't worry about it too much. It was just happy to see the friendly creature come back out.

The Doctor strode back to the top of the hill, where he held the device to his chest, facing the stream.

"Let's see," he said. "I don't want to pull any metal from the ground, and I don't want to kill anything. How about a range of one-half kilometer, mass of five grams, power setting medium." He looked up at the land beyond the stream. "And an extremely narrow height, but with a wide field, because it will be at ground level." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, a small cylinder about six inches long. It trilled briefly, and the machine was calibrated the way he needed it.

"There. That should do it." He pocketed the sonic screwdriver and, putting his arm through the straps, held the electron magnet out in front of him, with the flat side facing away. He braced one leg behind him, took aim, and pressed a button.

For a second, nothing happened. Then, from beyond the stream, several objects flew right at him with amazing speed and _rattle-slammed_ into the plate, shoving him back with a grunt. He turned it off, and nine items fell to the ground – eight small stones with a slightly metallic content, and one bullet.

He picked it up, his face hardening. It was still warm, and he could see the scratches from the gun from which it had been fired, as well as its impact with the ground. But what really bothered him were two things. The first was that it was an incredibly sturdy bullet, having survived its colossal impact with the rocky bank completely intact. The second was that it was moving.

He pursed his lips, feeling his insides clutching up. This did not bode well at all. He'd never seen its like before, but it didn't take much to realize that the bullet in his hand was no ordinary piece of weaponry, certainly nothing a colonist, or even a hunter, would ever use. It had nothing to do with defense, or survival. It was downright cold-blooded and malicious.

He looked back over the stream, where the sun was turning the sky into the first shades of orange. Rays of light beamed out from behind a cloud, and some of the waving fields on the hillsides seemed to be glowing. He looked in the other direction, where a beautiful double-moon was rising over the mountains, large enough that he felt he could reach up and touch them, each tinged with red from the sun. A star or two had begun to appear in the sky behind them. The sweet fragrance of some alien flower was borne on the cool breeze, blowing over the land.

He shook his head. This was no place for a bullet such as this.

No place at all.

He looked down at the koba, which was eyeing him with interest.

"Well, my little friend," the Doctor said. "Something is definitely wrong here."

All he got in reply was an inquisitive purr.

Then the Doctor saw it. He hadn't noticed before while running back and forth, but a couple of miles to the south was a small caravan. He pulled a telescope out of his inside coat pocket and peered through it. He could see two vehicles and a handful of people, some of whom carrying what were probably guns – he could tell that from their posture, really, more than anything else.

But something made him doubt they were the ones who had fired. They just weren't acting like it. Even after so many centuries, he was willing to admit that he had trouble reading humans – and these were definitely humans, probably a brand new colony from Earth, by the look of things. But the way they seemed to be casually strolling along suggested no animosity. As he watched, they joined a third vehicle by the stream, and started to set up camp.

He closed the telescope and looked at them thoughtfully. They would be suspicious at first of a stranger out of nowhere, but that couldn't be helped. One had to say "Hello" the first time somehow.

He looked down at the koba. "Would you like to come along?" he asked. "They might not be so nervous if I have a native of the planet accompanying me. I'm sure none of your kind have ever given them any trouble, eh?"

The koba just grinned, and set off after the strange creature from the blue cave.


	4. Chapter 3

True saw him first as he came around a nearby hill, wading through the tall grass, and let out a piercing scream.

The Doctor sighed. Thank you, he thought, Thank you very much. _Just_ what I needed.

The crew of Eden Project jumped. Heads whipped around, and True was running to the TransRover, yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!"

"Uh, hello!" the Doctor called, still coming forward. "I don't mean any harm. I just wanted to talk for a little while."

Everyone ran out to the edge of the campsite. True and Uly were already in the TransRover's cab, with Yale standing beside it. Alonzo and Walman each held a magpro, although Alonzo didn't have his pointed at the stranger. For some reason, he didn't feel he needed to.

"Hello there!" the Doctor called again with a smile when he saw he had everyone's attention. "I realize this must be unusual, but I assure you I'm perfectly safe. I just wanted to talk for a while, that's all."

The stranger was tall, lean, and dark-haired. He spoke in a British accent, and his clothes were ridiculously out of place and fancy – light brown slacks and vest, a white starched shirt, a large brown tie made of silk, and a dark brown coat which stretched to his knees. A gold watch chain added the perfect touch to the ensemble.

Devon, standing slightly in front of the others, called out, "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

She glanced at Julia, got a confused shake of the head in return. Everyone else was silent.

Devon asked, "Doctor who?"

The Doctor closed his eyes and let out a tremendous sigh, almost of pleasure, or reminiscence. "Oh, it's been so long since anyone has asked me that."

Then something in his pocket started beeping.

The Doctor patted himself down, wondering what it could be. Danziger gritted his teeth, and raised the pistol in his hands. He didn't like this one bit.

"Excuse me, sir," Devon called. "Who are you, and what exactly is going on?"

The Doctor pulled the bullet out and held it up. It was beeping faster now.

"Well, this bullet I picked up seems to be emitting a noise. It's quite a coincidence, because it's what I wanted to talk to you ab-"

 _"Take cover!"_ Morgan yelled. He grabbed Bess and ran for the TransRover, almost everyone else hot on his heels. Alonzo dropped his gun and bolted forward. Devon, Danziger, Cameron, and Julia did the same.

"-out. You see-"

Then the Doctor looked up just in time to see five people slam him to the ground. Unseen, the koba jumped back into the grass.

"Getitgetitgetit!" Julia yelled. Fifty fingers fumbled for the bullet, now screeching armageddon. Danziger finally got ahold of it, took a step, and hurled it with all his might upstream, into the water.

The titanium phosphorous blast sounded like it cracked open the world. It hurled them all to the ground. Water and splinters from blasted trees peppered over them like buckshot.

Everyone lay on the ground for a moment, waiting for their skulls to stop ringing. The others ran back out, hoping desperately they wouldn't have to pick up any pieces of people. Uly and True were yelling "Mom!" and "Dad!" Yale had to hold them back.

Danziger climbed to his feet, waving that they were all alive. The Doctor sat up and shook his head, then looked around at them.

"Goodness. I only wanted to talk," he said.

"You're gonna talk, all right!" Danziger leaned down and grabbed him by the front. "You're gonna tell us exactly what the _hell you think you're doing!"_

Devon wanted to tell John to wait, to calm down, but at the moment, she felt exactly the same way. This circus-clown idiot better have one _hell_ of a tale, she thought.

Then they noticed Cameron wasn't moving.

"Cameron?" Julia asked. She bent over his still body and rolled him over. In his neck was a thorn, and his face had broken into a rash.

"Oh, no," Devon's face fell. "He's been stung by a koba."

"Has he?" the stranger asked. "Can I help? I am a doctor, you know."

Julia paused just long enough to skewer him with a look even a Time Lord could understand. The Doctor fell silent.

"Baines, help me get him into the med tent," Julia called.

"And you – on your feet!" Danziger barked. The pistol was back in his hand.

"There's no need for that, really," the Doctor said as he stood up. He was infuriatingly calm, but he didn't sound like he meant it to be offensive. "Believe me, I am just as stunned by what's happened here as you are."

"We'll see about that, now move!"

"He's right, John, he doesn't mean us any harm," Alonzo said.

"We don't know that for sure." Danziger's eyes didn't leave the stranger's for a second.

"Yes, we do," Alonzo replied.

"How do you know?"

"Because a Terrian told me," Alonzo said simply.

"Uh, John – we have company," Devon told him.

Danziger and the Doctor turned to look.

Three Terrians were standing there, holding their staves, watching.

"They say we can trust him," Alonzo said.

The Terrian in front made gurgling noises. Alonzo seemed to be listening.

"What did they say?" Devon asked.

"The same thing again, because they're afraid John's going to hurt him – that we can trust him. They say he's a friend."

The Doctor squinted his eyes, examining the aliens. "How did they tell you that?" he asked.

"I dream with them," Alonzo said.

The Doctor tilted his head to one side, thoroughly amazed. For the first time in his thousand-year existence, his Time Lord gift of telepathically translating any language in the universe had failed completely. The language of these Terrians was complete gibberish to him.

Fascinating.

"You don't seem to know them," Devon eyed the stranger curiously.

"I don't. I've only just arrived on this planet."

Devon and Danziger traded looks.

"Well, they know you," Alonzo said.

"How is that?" the Doctor asked.

Alonzo shrugged. "They don't say. Just that you are known to them."

The Doctor slowly walked up to the Terrians. They eyed each other.

"Well," he said. "Curiouser and curiouser."

Danziger sighed, putting the pistol away. "You got that right," he said.

The Terrians leaned back their heads, hunched their shoulders, and dropped into the earth. Startled, the Doctor sank to his knees and reached after them, only to meet solid ground. Even the grass was undisturbed.

"Extraordinary!" he breathed. "Now how did they do that, I wonder."

"They travel through the earth," Alonzo said.

The Doctor turned, his brows furrowed. "So this planet is one living organism, encompassing even the soil and the air?"

"As far as we can tell," Devon replied, still a little guarded. "You seem remarkably knowledgeable about someplace you claim to know nothing about, Doctor whoever-you-are."

"I just guessed," he said simply. "I've encountered the phenomenon before."

She looked helplessly at Danziger, who shook his head with disbelief. He just _guessed?_ It had taken everything within them to believe that such a thing was even possible, and he had only just arrived (so he claimed) and he just casually _guessed_ it? Impossible!

Julia joined them again, as the Doctor got up and brushed himself off, then sniffed at the dirt on his hands, as if that would tell him anything.

"I've done all I can for Cameron. I can only hope his body won't have some allergic reaction to the poison which Morgan and O'Neill didn't, and I'm assuming he'll be up in a couple of days."

"You know, I meant it when I said I was a doctor," the Doctor said. "I would be happy to lend you my services."

"Julia is a more than competent physician," Devon said, "and I'd rather trust a friend of mine to her than to a man who won't even tell me his name. I don't care what the Terrians said."

"'The Doctor' is my name, I told you that. It's the only name I have, the only one I go by, and the only one I'll answer to. And you are?"

"Devon Adair." She didn't offer to introduce anyone else.

Danziger showed a sad smile. He'd rarely seen Adair this upset over anything, and he was finding that he didn't like to see her this way.

"Uh, listen," Julia said to break the tension, "we were all far too close for comfort to that explosion, and some of us got thrown to the ground, so I'd like to run a quick scan on those of us who didn't take cover. Just to be on the safe side."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Alonzo said. Devon also nodded her approval, pleased at Julia's quick thinking – for she could tell the real reason she suggested it was to find out more about the Doctor.

"Including you," Julia said to him. "Come on. Into the med tent."

"Oh, I assure you I'm quite fine," the Doctor said.

"Doctor's orders," Julia said.

The Doctor couldn't help but smile. And Devon noticed that it wasn't the smile of a fake charmer like Gaal. It was real.

"If you insist," he said.

They all started in that direction. Devon brought up the rear, holding Julia back a little. At the same time she looked around at Yale. As she met his eyes, he gave a quiet assent, telling her the children were safe. She noticed he'd managed to keep them busy by giving them chores to do, but they were looking in their direction, eager to be with their parents, eager to know all about the stranger and what was going on.

Well, they weren't the only ones, she thought.

"Do you recognize him?" she asked Julia.

"No, but that doesn't mean anything. If this is Reilly's doing, you can be sure he wouldn't send someone I'd know." She sighed heavily. "My guess is he's either a penal colonist who's insane, or he's trying to _act_ like a penal colonist who's insane."

Devon looked down tiredly. "Well, while you were in the med tent, three Terrians arrived and told us he was a friend."

Julia raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, maybe he's done a favor for them in the past, the same way we got rid of Gaal, so they think he's safe." She shook her head. "I just don't know. But that certainly changes things." She shrugged. "Maybe he's even telling the truth."

They reached the med tent. "All right. Just be sure and have a sedaderm ready. I still don't trust him."

Julia pulled a sedaderm out of her pocket. "You mean like this?"

Devon just shook her head and smiled, and entered the tent. Julia followed her.

Inside, despite what Devon had said, the Doctor was already examining Cameron closely, fascinated with his condition. Danziger was on the other side of the cot, casually making conversation – and keeping watch on everything he did.

"The poison from a koba's fingernail just makes it _look_ like a person's dead," he was saying, "but he's really just in a deep coma." His eyes found Julia as she entered. "We hope."

She gave him a "Let's-hope-so" look and pulled on her diaglove, attaching the scanner to it.

The Doctor turned Cameron's head side to side, peering closely, then gently held his head with one hand, with his thumb on one temple and his middle finger on the other. He closed his eyes.

As Julia raised the diaglove to the Doctor's neck, he said, "Yes, he's alive."

Julia pulled back.

"He's frightened, but he's definitely alive."

"What do you think you're doing?" Devon asked sharply, and reached over to pull him away. The Doctor motioned her to stop with his free hand, his face creased.

"Please don't," he murmured. "I'm inducing an alpha rhythm. Trying to calm his fears, let him know...that...everything's...all...right."

The Doctor's eyes drifted open, and he pulled his hand away.

"There," he stood up. "I haven't improved his condition any, but the experience of being poisoned will be a little less traumatic for him, and he may come out of his coma sooner than he would have otherwise."

Julia just stared at him. Not knowing what to say, she proceeded to check the Doctor out with her diaglove. She took one look at the scanner and stepped back in alarm.

"He's not human."

"Well, of course I'm not human – but I think we can save the compliments for later, don't you think? How am I? Fit as a flute?"

Julia just switched off her scanner and held it to her shoulder, looking at him petulantly.

"All right, enough games and enough guessing," Devon said. "I want to know what you are, I want to know who you are, I want to know what you're doing here, and I want to know why you almost blew us up with a bullet which obviously came from a ZED unit. And I want to know now."

The Doctor blinked at her. "Of course," he said. "That is, in fact, why I came here to see you – because I wanted to know what was going on. I just thought we were waiting for the good doctor here to go through her paces – you know, check us out for cuts, bruises, broken bones, whiplash, all that sort of thing."

"We're fine," Julia said simply. "I agree with Devon. I want to know what you're doing here."

"Very well. Is there someplace we can sit and talk?"

Yale stuck his head in the tent. "Dinner is ready–" he felt the tension in the air "–if anyone is interested," he finished quietly.

"Oh, splendid!" the Doctor said. "What are we having?"

"It's this awful green slimy stuff called Spirulina," True said.

Everyone turned. True was standing there, as simple as you please, having crawled under the far side of the tent. Uly was just standing up, having crawled through himself.

"True!" Danziger snapped.

"Ulysses Adair, I want you back outside – now!" Devon pointed.

Uly turned to go, then stopped when True didn't immediately obey. "We just wanted to see the stranger," she said, eyeing the Doctor curiously.

Danziger sighed in exasperation. "True!" he said warningly.

"Is it really that horrible?" the Doctor asked her.

True's face brightened a little at being acknowledged. "If you've never had it before, it's awful! Then it gets worse."

"Uh huh," Uly nodded.

"And you eat it every day?"

"At least."

"Oh," the Doctor looked at her consideringly, as if she'd just told him a vital clue to some mystery. "Well, it probably builds character. And just think of how good real food will taste all over again by comparison when you come back to it, eh? Now, why don't the two of you go get some of this nasty, horrible, green – what did you call it?"

"Spirulina!" the children echoed, laughing.

"That's it! Why don't you go get some of this nasty horrible Spirulina? We grown-ups will be along in a few moments, and all your curiosity will be satisfied then, eh?"

They turned and lifted the canvas to leave the tent the same way they'd entered. Devon started to tell them to go through the door, but they were gone, running and laughing. She sighed, and glanced at Danziger, who glanced back with a slight shrug.

They had to admit the Doctor handled the children extremely well.

"Well," the Doctor turned. "Shall we?"

Devon just tilted her head to one side with a determined look and led the way out-side. Why did she feel as if she had just lost complete control in the last five minutes?

Once outside the tent, the Doctor took one look at the dinner line and asked, "Why such small servings?"

"We have to ration ourselves," Devon told him. "We haven't found much on this planet which is edible, and most of what we have found isn't really nutritious enough to sustain us."

"Ah," the Doctor said. "Well, in that case, I shall decline your offer. I'm really not very hungry right now, and I didn't know your food was scarce."

For a moment, Devon didn't know what to say. Finally she asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course," he said. "A cup of water will do for me, thanks."

"Hi-ya! Hi-ya!" Uly was fighting his way across the campsite, defeating imaginary villains with ju-jitsu. The Doctor saw him and the tiniest wistful smile touched his face.

"Ulysses," he said softly. "Tell me, has he built any wooden horses?"

"No," Devon just laughed. "No, not that I'm aware of."

"Ulysses. Odysseus. I met the real one, you know. The original, I mean." Devon just looked at him. "He thought I was the god Zeus."

Devon just nodded, realizing that the best way to deal with this strange man was not to encourage him.

At that moment, Uly tried a spin-kick – and caught Walman on the back of the neck as he sat down by the fire.

"Uly – watch it!" he snapped.

"Uly!" Devon strode forward, looking as if she was ready to tan his hide. But when Uly lost his balance and fell, with his right arm landing in the fire, she broke into a run.

"AAAHHH!" he screamed. He bunched himself up, cradling his arm against his chest, holding it and crying.

Julia was there in a few seconds, but Devon still got there first. She held her little boy, wanting to comfort him and rock him back and forth, yet strangle him at the same time.

Another wistful smile crossed the Doctor's face. He knew it would be a while before Uly would do something like that again.

He was learning.


	5. Chapter 4

The sun had gone down, and the Doctor sat with the others around the fire, sipping his mug of water. Devon had her arms around Uly, her chin resting on the top of his head, as she kept trying to get him to stop playing with the fire. True sat next to her dad. Zero stood on full alert. Walman, Baines, Mazatl and Magus each held a magpro, and were sitting on crates just behind the others, on all sides, so they could listen in, but still be ready to defend the camp.

"I'm a traveler," the Doctor said. "I arrived on this planet earlier this afternoon, simply because I wanted a bit of fresh air and solitude, although... although I didn't find it."

"We didn't see any ship come down near here," Alonzo said.

"Oh, you wouldn't have. It's very discreet." He took a sip of water. "I made friends with one of the local animals, and was resting with my feet in this very stream a few kilometers north, when someone shot at me, although I have no idea who. I retrieved the bullet from the ground, and was alarmed. It was very durable, and it was still moving. It didn't seem right to me, didn't seem like weaponry any sane person would use. I saw your caravan from a distance, and thought you could enlighten me as to what was going on. I had no idea it would explode – believe me, I would have left it alone. I just wanted to find out its history."

Danziger asked, "And...you just travel around in cold sleep, visiting different planets like a tourist, without a job or having to pay for it?"

"Well, if you want to put it that way, yes. Although you make me sound like some sort of freeloader." He smiled. "No, John Danziger, believe me, in my own way, I pay. I pay very dearly."

"You're not from Earth?" Julia asked.

"No, but I've been there often enough. My home is Gallifrey, and it's a long way from here. You wouldn't have heard of it – humans have had very little contact with my race, except for me."

"Could you show us this ship of yours?" Devon asked.

"Not until morning, but yes, if you wish," he replied. "But I doubt you'll be impressed."

"And you're saying you've never met the Terrians before now?" Morgan asked suspiciously. "Even though they _say_ we can trust you?"

"That's right. Although," the Doctor thought, "just before I was shot at, when I was meditating, someone contacted me mentally. You say you dream with them?" he asked Morgan.

"Not me – him." He jerked a thumb at Alonzo.

Julia jumped in. She was beginning to realize that the Doctor really had a first-class brain, and was getting more excited by the minute, anticipating his discussions. "The Terrians are so alien to us, they don't even communicate on the same level that we do. They communicate by using feelings, and dream images. Alonzo is the only person who's ever made any real contact with them."

"Really? Tell me," he asked Alonzo, "what feelings did you get from the Terrians when they were here this evening?"

"Well," Alonzo shrugged, "I felt...trust. Just lots and lots of trust. I even felt it when you first arrived. It was almost as if the Terrians were extremely relieved that you were here, like they had more respect for you than any other alien in the universe. They hold you in the highest regard."

Eden Project was silent for a moment.

The Doctor thoughtfully sipped his water, considering his options, and didn't like either one. He could have been suffering from a prolonged, serious case of post-regenerative amnesia, in which case he needed to find out as much as possible about whatever the Terrians were talking about.

Or, he was hearing about an event in his own personal future, wherein he would one day travel back in time on this same planet and help the Terrians with some problem, in which case he needed to leave quickly, lest he find out too much about his own time stream. He didn't know yet which course of action he should take.

"What exactly did you mean when you said you'd encountered this phenomenon before?" Danziger asked after a few moments. "About living planets, I mean?"

"Oh, just that. I have encountered it before, on the planet of the Cheetah People. Only, on that planet, the inhabitants were so animalistic and violent that whenever they fought – which was often – the structure of the planet was torn apart. They ended up destroying it."

"Well, there's a metaphor for you," Devon said. The Doctor smiled at her briefly. For the first time, the two of them had a rapport.

"But even then, it didn't surprise me," the Doctor went on. "I'd always expected it to happen some day, on some planet, somewhere. I was pleased to find I was right – even if it did mean I had to find a way off the planet before it blew up."

"Great," Morgan muttered. "Now we learn we're on a planet which might blow up."

Everyone ignored him.

"Why didn't it surprise you?" Julia asked.

"Because of the way life works. Consider any planet – in a way, it's _already_ alive. On your own Earth, for example, life is found everywhere, even where early science once reasoned it could never blossom – in the Antarctic, deep inside mountains, and on the ocean floor. It didn't matter if there was no sunlight, or no warmth, or only a little oxygen – life found a foothold and _grew._ No one could stop it. Life itself is the most tenacious, stubborn creature in the universe, hands down, and nothing can ever stand in its way – not even death, as amazing as that may seem.

"And as life grows, ecosystems develop. Animals feed on one another, _depend_ on one another; and even the top of the food chain becomes food for the plankton in the sea and the trees rooted in the ground. And life is _connected._ It's connected in a way which cannot be figured out with the mind, which is the beauty of it. You humans have coined phrases like "body language," "eye contact," and "telepathy," to describe it, and those are valid phrases. We can point to many things about the mind which make those concepts possible. But underneath the scientific concepts, there's yet another truth that we can't quite grasp, and that truth is that it's just life connecting with life.

"When two people connect with a smile, how does that happen? What causes laughter? How do people move in a rhythm when they make love, without sitting down with pen and paper and working it out beforehand? How is it you can sometimes tell exactly when someone's lying and when they're being honest, without using machines? How is it that even you humans can sometimes communicate feelings and brief thoughts over great distances, in times of deep emotion? How, exactly, does adrenaline give one incredible strength? How does a man jump in a pool and rescue a drowning child when he hears a mother scream for help – only to find later that he can't speak her language?

"Oh, we can identify the chemicals and the cells that make all these things possible, but what _initiates_ the process? It's just life, and no one that I know of has ever invented a computer more sophisticated than the DNA molecule – the original, adapting, learning computer at the root of all of us. I come from the most advanced race in the cosmos, and my people have figured out almost every strand of DNA in existence, including which ones have to do with telepathy and adrenaline and everything else I've mentioned. But not even on Gallifrey do we know what makes a person's mind become self-aware, enjoy a sunrise, laugh at a joke, and hate the taste of spirulina. The mystery of what makes someone alive is one of the few secrets still closed to us. And it probably always will be.

"And the definition of life can include working systems. A planet's natural ecology, if left undisturbed, will make its _own_ balance, with all the parts working together. So when I discovered that some planets have evolved to the point where the connected life force began to act and think as a _single being_ – I was not the least bit surprised. In fact, it seemed the next logical step."

Alonzo fed a few sticks into the fire. "I think we know now why the Terrians like you so much," he smiled.

"It's amazing that you say all that," Devon said. "We are here – some of us unintentionally – because my son had a disease caused by a lack of being... _connected,_ as you say. A lot of children were dying because of a lack of Earth, of what nature could provide, and no one could cure them, because there wasn't any virus or bacteria or brain damage to fight. So the doctors were just watching them die. Earth is now too dangerous to live on, but the space station environment was killing my son. So I organized the Eden Project, and came here." She ruffled her son's hair lovingly. "And when we got here, the Terrians took my son. I thought they'd kidnapped him, but instead they cured him, and now he's alive." She started to cry, just a little bit.

"I'm not sure it was just the Terrians who cured Ulysses," the Doctor said. "It may have been the entire planet."

"Do you have any knowledge or theories about the Syndrome, Doctor? I mean – the disease Devon just mentioned?" Julia asked.

The Doctor sighed, and thought about it for a few seconds. "Well, I've heard of similar diseases before, afflicting other races – such as the Quinlonians, who wither and die if separated from their clanbeings for longer than a day. But this is the first time I've heard of it affecting humans, and I haven't had a chance to study it firsthand.

"But from what you've told me, the description of the Syndrome seems to run parallel with that of a spiritual or an emotional disease, more than anything else, which is very intriguing.

"The reason I say that is because Syndrome children suffer from a lack of nature, and that's," he hesitated, trying to find the words, "I would say that that is somewhat similar to children who are abused or neglected somehow – they grow up with part of their souls damaged, and the real suffering comes later. They are subsequently unable to connect with either themselves or with others – with sometimes tragic results – or they can only connect in very unhealthy ways, because their natural ability to live life has been mangled or ripped away.

"Yes, I believe your space stations, from what you describe, have a similar effect to children who are abused – they prevent them from being able to _connect_ to life in the way that they need to, because there's nothing to connect _to._ And without connecting, they wither and die. Same principle." The Doctor looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. "At least, I'm sure that's one aspect of the Syndrome. There are almost certainly others."

Julia thought about this. Devon kissed the top of her son's head, grateful again she'd gotten him away from there.

Then she said, "Well, I apologize, Doctor, if we treated you rather harshly earlier, but we have learned the hard way that not too many people on this planet can be trusted."

"Tell me about that."

So she did. She found herself talking about the Syndrome, and Blalock, and the colony ship, and the crash, and Broderick O'Neill, and Gaal, and Wentworth and Firestein, and Mary. The others joined in, and as the evening went on, everyone talked. The therapeutic effect of telling their story was amazing. The tale of their ordeals, of all they'd been through, washed out of them like a cleansing river. They'd never realized how eager they'd been for someone – _anyone_ – to _listen_ to what they'd been through. They'd never really sat down and talked about it all before.

It got a little awkward when Devon told him about Julia's role with the Council, but she had to mention it, as politely as she could, to explain how they had found out what the ZED was, and how they had defeated it.

"So the bullet I picked up was fired by another of these ZEDs?" the Doctor asked.

"It's a good bet," Danziger replied.

"But how come Yale and Alonzo got shot so accurately from such a distance, but the Doctor didn't?" Eben asked.

"Maybe because the worm bullets are programmed to seek out humans, and I'm not human," the Doctor said. "My guess would be that the bullet homed in on me, but at the last minute, probably thought I was an animal of some sort. My body temperature is vastly different, and I have a double-respiratory/cardiovascular system."

"Huh?" Uly asked.

"That means I have two hearts," the Doctor smiled, "and most blood vessels and air passages in my body are doubled. So if one system fails, the other will keep me going, providing me with an emergency oxygen supply, which my body latently stores within my cell structure. It's saved my life on several occasions."

"Looks like it saved your life this afternoon," Bess pointed out.

"Well, what I want to know is, if there's another ZED unit in the area, why haven't any bullets come _our_ way?" Morgan asked.

"And furthermore," Baines added, "why are we stickin' around?"

"Well, I think it's obvious the ZED doesn't know we're here, yet, or it would have fired on _us_ by now," Julia said. "Its camp is probably to the north, where the Doctor said he landed his ship, and furthermore, it's probably on the edge of the mountains we just left. ZEDs seem to like high ground to shoot from. We're probably just beyond his range."

"But he knew I was there," the Doctor pointed out. "He could have followed me, and learned about you."

Everyone was silent; that was an uncomfortably good point.

"Can we please not talk about ZEDs right now?" True asked quietly.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry," Danziger said. "We didn't mean to scare you."

"No, and we're not going to talk about ZEDs right now," Devon reassured her. "I don't know about you, True, but it's time for _you,"_ she spoke in her son's ear, "to get some sleep."

"And you, sport," John said. "Go on, honey, off you go."

Morgan said, "Why put 'em to bed if we're gonna leave tonight- ooh!" Bess kicked him, and whispered in his ear.

"Ooh, right. Bedtime for both of 'em. Maybe me too, while we're at it."

As Devon ushered Uly off to her tent, Cameron stepped out of the med tent, slowly rubbing the back of his neck.

"I can't believe it!" Julia glanced at the Doctor, then leaped up and ran to Cameron, helping him find a seat by the fire. "You were only out for a few hours! How are you feeling?"

"Like I just slept a week. What happened, anyway? I thought we were all gonna die."

"No, we didn't die, but it was a close thing," she said. "John threw the bullet away in time. You were stung by a koba, and you've been in a coma for a couple of hours. Sit tight. I'll be back."

She left to give both the children a sedative, so they would sleep soundly through the night, untroubled by the terror of lurking death, waiting to pounce. If they did leave tonight, they would both sleep safely in the TransRover's cab.

Seeing everyone gathered around the fire, Cameron asked, "What's been going on?" He eyed the Doctor suspiciously.

"We've been finding out things," Bess said. "We'll fill you in later, but for right now, just believe us when we say that the Doctor is a friend, and we seem to have another ZED on our hands."

Cameron just looked at her. "I wish I'd stayed in the coma."

"And I must apologize to you, Cameron," the Doctor said. "It's partially my fault you were poisoned. I believe the animal that poisoned you was one I made friends with when I arrived on this planet. I didn't know it was poisonous. I believe it was simply trying to protect me."

Devon, Julia and Danziger rejoined them.

"Well!" Bess said, as they sat down. "What are we going to do about the ZED?"

"I wonder if we could find it and nail it with a geolock," Danziger said casually.

Fourteen pairs of eyes stared at him.

"What are you talking about?" Morgan asked. "Let's pull up stakes and get the hell outta here! I don't even know what we're waiting for!"

"It's not that simple, Morgan," Julia said. "The ZED might follow us. Just because it's camped in a certain area doesn't mean we cease to be targets if we move on. I'm certain it would hunt us all the way to New Pacifica."

"Yes, but it might not know we're _here,_ yet!"

"Yeah," Magus agreed.

"Referring to Mr. Danziger's idea, I'm not sure it would work," the Doctor said. "Any cybernetically advanced human, programmed for war, would be able to outrun a geolock. They can run for miles, even carrying heavy loads, very fast, and hardly break a sweat. So it would miss the ZED, but end up killing a lot of other things instead."

"Like a Terrian," Walman muttered. "I don't want to do that again."

"What do _you_ care?" Morgan asked the Doctor. "This isn't your problem. You're free to fly away any time you feel like it!"

"Yes, but I'd never sleep at night again."

"Doctor," Devon asked. "Would it be possible to fly us _all_ out of here?"

He thought about it. "I could do that. But I must warn you, my ship is very haphazard sometimes. I don't always go where I think I'm going."

"I don't think you could go _too_ far off course," Alonzo said. "I'm a pilot, if you need any help!"

The Doctor just smiled.

"It's not that simple. There's a chance we wouldn't even come back to this planet."

"What do you mean?" Danziger asked. "You think we're all going to accidentally fall into cold sleep chambers and not notice it?"

"I don't need hibernation equipment on my ship – although I'm sure I've got some somewhere, if I bothered to look for it. No, my race long ago solved the problem of fourth-dimensional travel."

"You mean...you can travel between the stars in _minutes?"_ Bess asked.

The Doctor nodded. "That was why you didn't see my ship come down. But my ship is almost entirely random, because she and I have both traveled together for so many centuries without caring where we go. So I sometimes have trouble steering her."

"How old are you, man?" Alonzo asked.

"A lot older than you, kid," the Doctor replied.

"Well, are we going to use the Doctor's ship to leave here?" Mazatl asked.

"I'd rather not," Devon suddenly said. "This ZED hasn't bothered us yet. No offense to you, Doctor, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable flying away in a random spacecraft just yet. Why don't we pull up stakes and head west for about a week or so? If no one fires at us, I'll feel a little more confident that the ZED never knew we were here. But if the ZED does fire on us, _then_ we can do something differently."

"And once we reach New Pacifica and the colony ship arrives, then we can come back here with a properly armed force to hunt it down," Danziger said.

Devon looked at him in wonder. Danziger had just said, "we," without even thinking about it. Was he planning to stay with Eden Project instead of return to Earth?

"Well, Doctor," Bess asked. "How long were you planning on staying?" The implications were clear – Eden Project wanted to know if he could help them later if things got dicey.

"I never plan, really. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to walking a week west, and then walking back to my ship. But I'm still young and spry – I might manage it for a little while. I'll certainly stay the night. There are a few personal matters I also have to consider."

Morgan slapped his thigh, and Danziger said, "All right, let's get crackin'."

And Eden Project started the all-too-familiar routine of breaking camp. But when Devon reached her tent, she screamed.

 _"Uly! Uly! No! Ulyyyyyy!"_

Everyone bolted for Devon's tent. She was on the other side of it, running out into the night. _"Uly where are you?"_

Lights were turned on and shone round the area. Danziger and Yale tried to calm Devon down. The Doctor and Julia both looked inside the tent.

The far side of the tent, facing away from the campfire, had been sliced open from the outside, and Uly had been taken.


	6. Chapter 5

They searched for an hour in all directions, in two groups of four. Julia and the Doctor were split between the two groups, as they were the two people best suited to treat injuries in case anyone got shot, or to help Uly if they found him. Each group had two magpros, and kept in constant gear contact with both each other and base camp.

They didn't find a thing.

Devon only returned when Danziger persuaded her to, finally getting her to see that blundering around in the dark wasn't going to do any good. They had to go back to camp and make a plan, he told her. She did, crying all the way. When they got there, she charged Zero in a rage and pounded on him as hard as she could with both fists.

 _"What were you doing?"_ she yelled as they pulled her away, thrashing wildly. "You were supposed to be scanning for movement, you worthless piece of scrap! _What were you doing?"_

Zero just lay on the ground where she'd knocked him, as motionless and as silent as he had been for the last hour and fifteen minutes, probably more. Somehow, the robot had been completely deactivated, and they couldn't start it again.

No one could blame Devon for her fury. After helping the others pull her off, Walman looked down at Zero in disgust, and viciously kicked the robot himself. Then he walked away, shaking his head.

The group consisting of the Doctor, Baines, Alonzo and Mazatl came back into camp. The Doctor again went to Devon's tent to examine the area behind it. He found Yale standing there. The Doctor bent down to look at the ground.

"No tracks whatsoever," Yale said. "Whoever he was, he knew what he was doing."

The Doctor sighed, looking out into the darkness, thinking. Suddenly he whipped his head around, sprang up, and ran to Zero.

He examined the robot intensely for a moment, then called, "Mr. Danziger, could you help me for a moment?"

Danziger was standing by Devon, who had collapsed in a chair, clutching Uly's little wooden staff to her chest. She was trying so hard to come up with a plan of action instead of sit there helplessly, but she was out of ideas. Julia, Alonzo and Bess were debating on whether they should all go north, in the theory that the ZED had taken Uly and was headed back to its camp. Puzzled, Danziger left them for a moment to join the Doctor. "What is it?" he asked.

The Doctor looked around, then sprang up again. "Help me pull this table under the light." He grabbed one end of a collapsible picnic table. Danziger grabbed the other end and helped him. "What's all this for?" he asked.

"Surgery!" the Doctor replied. He ran back to Zero, then looked up at Danziger. "Help me lift him onto the table, would you please?"

"Now wait just a min-"

"Please! Time is of the essence!"

Danziger bent down and helped him lift the robot onto the table. By this time, everyone in camp was looking on.

"Early model Zero unit," the Doctor said, to no one in particular. "Surveillance equipment, repair functions, manual labor. Of course!"

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and opened the plate in the robot's chest, then opened the glass plate on his head. He poked at the circuitry beneath for a moment, then said, "No interface. Can one of you get on a communication device and speak directly with Zero?"

"Normally we could, but right now we can't even get a response that way," Danziger said.

"What?" the Doctor asked. "Blast! The information's in here, we just need to find a way to access it!"

"What are you saying?" Devon asked, her lip quivering, clutching at any hope at all that she would see her son again.

The Doctor spun to face her. "Your robot is chock full of surveillance equipment! The interface between the robot and the people around it was somehow deactivated so it couldn't give alarm! But if you take a look here –" he pointed to some circuits inside Zero which still hummed slightly "– the surveillance equipment _itself_ is still functioning perfectly!"

"You're saying that Zero still registered and monitored whomever took Uly – that he was only unable to give an alarm, for some reason?" Julia asked.

"Precisely! Zero couldn't shout a warning or move to prevent the kidnapping, but he still recorded every second of it! We need an interface between him and us! We need some way to tell what's going on inside his circuits, and for that, we need some kind of-"

"Cybernetic link between a human and a machine," Yale stepped forward.

The Doctor smiled. "Exactly!"

Yale stood beside Zero and held out his arm. Between the Doctor and Danziger, an interface was built between Yale and Zero. The Doctor made a final adjustment with his sonic screwdriver, and said, "You should be in cyberspace now. Try to get him to run a diagnostic on himself."

"No, it's not cyberspace, but I'll try. I can still see what's going on, to a limited extent. It seems that although Zero was incapable of warning us, he's still trying to. It's almost as if he's silently screaming inside for someone to hear his warning, and his programming won't stop until it's acknowl- oh, my!" he said.

The others leaned in closer.

"Zero's inability to give a warning is due to an override command sent to him by remote!" Yale was incredulous. His eyes, focused on a point far away, were opened wide as he tried to believe what he was seeing. "There is a program in here which takes precedence over all else when activated! Anyone who transmits the right code can force Zero to do what he wants, even if it means disobeying the three laws of robotics! And Zero is programmed not to know of this override's existence!"

"A Universal Command," the Doctor sighed. "A lot of governments and corporations illegally install them in all robots everywhere. That way, in case any given robot finds itself in a situation where it can be useful, someone in authority can use it as a tool. Whether it's a SuperVoc or a menial load lifter – it doesn't matter. At a moment's notice it can be turned into someone's enemy."

"Someone in authority," Danziger muttered. "I guess we know who that would be. It wouldn't be any trick at all for Reilly to access Eden Advance's manifest and find out Zero's registration number."

"Yale, does Zero know where Uly was taken?" Devon asked.

"I can't tell," he answered. "And without the clearance code, I can't cancel the override."

"Clearance code?" Morgan asked. "Describe it to me, Yale." When the others looked at him in surprise, he explained, "I...used to crack government codes all the time back on the stations, because if I just waited for information or help, I'd never get anywhere."

"Would you have the security clearance to know a code like this?" Devon asked.

"No, but it might be similar to ones I've handled before."

Yale said, "It's a three-tier encryption, in the form of a pyramid, with ancient Egyptian carvings all over it."

"With a heiroglyph on top that looks like a cobra?" Morgan asked.

"Yes."

"King Tut's Tomb," Morgan said, then added awkwardly, "That's...not what it's called, it's what _I_ call it. Okay, um, look. This encryption is in the form of a pyramid, and there's a secret route through to the center, or the tomb area, where the treasure is. Find the secret entrance and the secret route, and you're there. Start giving the computer any image which matches one of the heiroglyphs, or a group of them set close together on the surface."

Yale sat in silence for about 30 seconds, then said, "I'm in."

"Watch out for traps!" Morgan warned him. "Now, in my experience, no heiroglyph is ever repeated. So if you see one you've used, don't use it again. If there's a doorway, _don't_ go through it! Always look for the _hidden_ door."

Again, Yale was silent. Then he said, "I've breached the first encryption tier. Should I worry about mummies that come out of the walls and head towards me?"

Morgan was surprised. "Um, well...I've never encountered any, but I think it would be an awfully good idea for you to stay away from them. They might be viruses, and my guess is they'd be pretty nasty ones."

"I'm through the second tier!" Yale said excitedly.

"That was fast," Morgan muttered. "Now, don't get cocky. You've got one more tier to go."

Yale swallowed hard. "I can't find the door, and the mummies are getting closer." His body was tense, his hands clenched in fists. Then he shouted, "I'm through! Initiating cancellation code! Disconnect me now!"

The Doctor yanked the connecting wire out of Zero. Yale breathed in suddenly, his head thrown back – then brought it forward again in a sigh. He was all right. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "That was too close," he said. "The mummies were almost on me."

Walman shook his head. "Whoever designs those things needs to have his head examined!"

"You bet he does!" Morgan exclaimed. "You've never _met_ the guy! He's this weirdo in Programming named Littlefield. He's got a twisted sense of priorities, all right."

The robot sat up.

"Hello, Zero," the Doctor smiled. "How are you feeling- uh, well, that is to say, how are you _doing?"_

"Running diagnostic. All systems fully operational."

"Excellent! Are you aware of what happened to you?"

"Please specify a time reference," Zero said.

"The past three hours – are you aware of the override, and that you were forced to disobey the laws of robotics?"

"Of course I am," the robot almost sounded offended. It climbed off the table and stood up. "Now that the override has been deactivated, I am fully aware of its presence."

"Who sent you the command, and when?" the Doctor asked.

"I do not know who sent it. One hour and 42.389 minutes after I was put on full alert, I received a command which overrode all my functions. The person giving the command instructed me not to communicate with anyone or anything, in any way."

"But it didn't occur to this person to tell you to stop surveillance?" Devon asked desperately.

"That is correct. Although I could not give alarm, I was perfectly aware of what was happening, and I recorded it."

 _"What happened?"_ she clutched at the robot.

"Thirty-nine point seven one three minutes after I received the override, I first detected a humanoid with cybernetic enhancements matching those of the first ZED we encountered. She came floating down the stream-"

 _"She?"_ Devon was incredulous. "This ZED is a _woman?"_

"That is correct," Zero said. "If you wish a further description, she was 1.68 meters in height, weighing approximately 155 pounds, with short brown hair coming almost to her shoulders."

Eden Project was stunned. Finally Denner muttered, "Tiny little thing."

"Don't let that fool you," the Doctor said. "With the right cybernetic enhancements, a _butterfly_ could be turned into a killing machine. What happened next, Zero?"

"The ZED floated down the stream from the north on a raft, which she appeared to have made herself from local materials. It was not prefabricated. She was too silent for any of you to hear her. She crawled on the ground toward the camp, keeping Ms. Adair's tent between herself and the rest of you. When Ms. Adair took Ulysses into her tent, she was waiting 9.47 meters away. After Ms. Adair left her tent again without Ulysses, the ZED waited 31.254 seconds before she approached the tent. She cut it open with a knife and carried Ulysses away. Since he had already been sedated by Dr. Heller, he was unconscious, and also could not give alarm."

Devon was shaking and crying. "Did she harm him?" she asked.

"No," Zero replied. "In fact, the ZED seemed to take great care _not_ to harm him. She went back to her raft and carried Ulysses away, floating downstream. She was still on the water when they passed beyond the range of my sensors."

Danziger sighed. "That means they could be anywhere. She could just keep going, or she could ditch the raft and start hiking in any direction. And the only thing we have to follow her in is vehicles, which she'd detect a mile away!"

"What about the horses?" Mazatl asked. "We could open those canisters and grow a few horses, and _ride_ after them! These ZEDs can only detect machinery, right?"

"It would take too long to grow them," Julia said. "No one knows how to ride them very fast, and most of them probably wouldn't survive for very long, anyway."

Everyone was silent again. The despair on Devon's face was total.

The Doctor was staring at the ground, deep in thought. Then he looked up at Julia. "Why Ulysses?" he asked.

Julia sighed. "The ZEDs work for the Council. Specifically, on this planet, they work for Reilly. Reilly thinks Ulysses is the key to controlling the planet, because of his Terrian link."

"And what exactly would Reilly do to find and exploit this link?" the Doctor asked.

Julia pursed her lips, unable to meet Devon's gaze.

"Experiment on him," she said. "With no regard for his life whatsoever."

Devon sobbed, and buried her face in Danziger's shoulder.


	7. Chapter 6

As Devon cried, Alonzo said, "Well, I think Mazatl's idea of using the horses is our best bet, even if we have to open every canister."

"No!" Devon loudly choked out between her tears, and turned to the Doctor. "No. We have something much better than that. Your spaceship, Doctor. It must have surveillance and tracking equipment of some kind. We've got to use it to find my son!"

The Doctor looked thoughtful. "No," he said.

 _"No?"_ Devon shouted. "How dare-"

"I think I know of an even better way, Devon," the Doctor said, silencing her gently. "The Terrians tried to warn me when I first arrived that their planet was in danger. I think this was what they were talking about. To a certain extent, they _do_ know what's going on, here. And I think we should ask them."

"Ask the Terrians for help?" Devon asked.

"Of course!" Julia exclaimed. "The Terrians would want to protect Uly, probably much more than they would be interested in protecting any of us! If Uly is in danger – well, who knows! They might even attack the ZED with force, using the lightning in their staffs, in order to get Uly back!"

"At the very least, they might be able to tell us where the ZED is, and where she's headed," the Doctor continued. "Theoretically, on a planet that's alive all over," he smiled, "there should be nowhere a ZED can hide."

Devon looked doubtful. "And if it doesn't work? If they won't help us?"

"Then we'll go straight to my spacecraft," the Doctor said.

Alonzo sat down at the table on which they'd repaired Zero. "I guess this is where I come in," he said.

"And I'm coming in, too," the Doctor said. "If I can."

"I'd be glad to have the company," Alonzo smiled.

They sat across from each other. Alonzo laid his head on the table. The Doctor sat upright, however, his arms at his sides, and quickly entered into an ancient Tibetan trance he'd learned many years before.

Immediately, the Doctor felt the planet, felt its life force flow over and through him, its texture full of the wisdom and knowledge it had gained over a million years. He almost felt he could hear a billion voices whispering on the edge of sleep, but could never quite hear them no matter how hard he tried to listen, and could never quite reach them no matter how far he traveled.

Then he was face to face with a Terrian. Alonzo was next to him, and they were spinning around and around, standing on a rolling plain, the stars sweeping around above them.

 _We need your help,_ Alonzo was saying. _Uly is in danger. Your link with us has been taken. Can you tell us where he is?_

The Terrian did not move, but the Doctor could tell the alien understood. The stars and the land continued to whirl around them. He had the unusual sensation that he should have been getting dizzy, but wasn't.

The Terrian stretched out the hand holding his staff, gesturing to the mountains, which grew closer. In a second they were there, standing on a ledge far up a steep hillside. On the ledge was the remains of a campfire, as well as a sleeping roll and two locked crates.

 _Are they coming here?_ Alonzo asked.

The Terrian showed them the plains below. The Doctor couldn't see anyone, but he got the distinct sensation that Uly and the ZED were out there, approaching quickly. He looked around the ledge to memorize it as well as he could, and noticed parrallel marks on the ground. Then he realized that he somehow _knew_ beyond a shadow of a doubt where this ledge was, so well that he could point it out on a map if he had to.

Then he was awake, looking at Alonzo.

"We know where they are," they said in unison.

Alonzo continued. "We know where they're headed. It's about 20 miles northeast of here," he turned to indicate the direction, pointing wearily at the mountains they had left a few days before. "And the ZED is moving so fast, and has such a head start, there's no way we can catch her."

"Then will the Terrians attack the ZED to save Uly?" Magus asked.

Alonzo shook his head. "I got the impression that they consider this a human conflict. They don't want to get involved, any more than we would want to get involved if a conflict ever developed amongst their people."

"But Uly is their link with us!" Yale said. "He's part Terrian now!"

"Yes, but they only understand our ways a little bit. In a way, they don't fully comprehend what's going on. They'll react to save Uly if he's in danger, but they don't feel he's in any real danger yet, because so far he's unharmed."

"Not in danger _yet?"_ Devon was stunned.

"It's how they think, Devon," the Doctor said. "As Alonzo said, the Terrians can only react to what they perceive, and they perceive things quite differently than we do."

"Remember how Gaal kept them from harming him?" Alonzo asked. "He wore Terrian bones around his neck, and the Terrians refused to touch him because they won't attack their own kind. It didn't matter that they were just bones – they still wouldn't do it. For all their intelligence, they have a funny way of looking at things, sometimes. Like now."

"Then we _have_ to go after them," she said. "This ZED can't run forever. I don't care what cybernetic enhancements it has – it can't outrun me."

"You can't catch them in time, Devon," Alonzo said.

"Why not?" Devon asked. "Where's she running _to?"_

"Her drop-off point," the Doctor said. "Next to her campfire are the markings of a small shuttle, probably used to ferry her down from Reilly's satellite. As soon as she gets back to camp, she'll be picked up again. And as Alonzo said, that will happen before any of you could get there."

Devon just looked at him in desperation. "But you have a faster way, don't you?" she whispered pleadingly.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded. "Yes, I do."

* * *

Danziger gently kissed True on the forehead. "Now you be good for Bess, all right, sweetheart?" he said, even though she couldn't answer, as she was sound asleep.

"She'll be fine," Bess said, looking in from the doorway. "I'm only going to be watching her for the night."

"Bess," Danziger stood up. "If I don't come back-"

"You _will_ come back, John Danziger," Bess told him. "Don't you dare say anything otherwise."

Danziger just looked at her for a moment, then nodded, realizing that Bess was going to outstubborn him on this one. He didn't have to tell anyone to look after True if he didn't make it. He knew she would.

He didn't think it would be appropriate to tell Bess that he would try his best to come back alive simply because the thought of Morgan Martin adopting his daughter gave him the screaming fits.

He just smiled and squeezed Bess's arm, and went to get his canteen.

"Now, if we're not back in 24 hours," Devon was telling Yale as they approached the rail, "I want you to pull up stakes and move west as fast as possible. You've got to be there for the colony ship when it arrives, Yale."

"Don't worry!" Yale said. "Everything will be fine, Devon. We defeated the first ZED, we can defeat this one, too. Besides – I have a feeling about the Doctor. I think he's going to be a great help." He looked at the five people climbing into the vehicle – Devon, Danziger, Julia, Alonzo and the Doctor. "You people go get Ulysses. We'll stay here. And we'll say a long prayer – for _all_ of us."

Devon, sitting in the front passenger seat, just squeezed his hand, holding back tears, then let go as the rail pulled away. She still held Uly's staff, as if clutching to it as tightly as possible would somehow bring him back.

Danziger, at the wheel, said, "You'll have to give me directions."

"You're doing fine," the Doctor told him. "Just follow the stream. At this speed we should be there in about ten minutes."

Ten minutes passed in silence. Alonzo finally asked, "Wouldn't you think we could see it by now? What does your ship look like?"

"Like that," the Doctor pointed.

Danziger hit the brakes. They all stared.

In the headlights was a blue police telephone box, large enough for maybe three people to stand upright in.

"I don't understand," Julia shook her head.

"That's my spacecraft," the Doctor said simply as he got out. From beneath the seat, he gently pulled out a satchel.

Devon was stunned, and the tears started flowing. "Is this a joke?" she barely whispered. "My son is going to die, and you're making practical jokes?"

The Doctor looked at her in amazement, then at the TARDIS.

"Trust me, Devon," he said. "Trust me."

Gingerly carrying the satchel, he walked up to the door. The others traded confused looks, then slowly got out and followed him.

The Doctor unlocked the door and pushed his way inside. "Come on," he called after them. "No time to lose!"

Devon strode up to the doorway, feeling like she was in a dream, _wishing_ that she was in a dream.

When she saw what was inside, she was almost certain it was a dream.

The others followed her in, amazement engulfing them one by one. It was huge! The ceiling was high above them. The far-off walls were filled with bookshelves, clocks, and workbenches. Yet the low light, the Victorian-era wood paneling, the dust on the books, and the four steel beams in the center of the room, towering up and over to look down on the central console, somehow made the huge space seem very closed in.

"How in the world..." Julia breathed.

"It's bigger on the inside than on the outside. Much bigger. Please accept that, don't ask why, and get ready for transference."

The door shut behind them. The Doctor pulled a lever, and the entire ceiling was suddenly changed into an aerial view of planet G889. Devon, who had scanned the survey maps more than anyone except Yale, instantly recognized where they were on the overhead view. Before she could react, a blinking light appeared on that spot. Another appeared on the edge of the mountains to the northeast.

She looked at the Doctor, working at the console. Suddenly she realized he was plotting their course.

"Can this thing really fly?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking," the Doctor said softly. He wasn't really paying her full attention. Instead, he was leaning over the console slightly, with his eyes closed, as if listening to the machine. She barely heard him whisper, "Come on, old girl. Don't let me down. A little boy's life is at stake." Then he seemed to relax a little.

He stood up and activated another lever. There was a slight groaning sound, and white crystals which resembled icicles inside the central column – some pointing up from the console, some pointing down from the ceiling – came together, yet none of them touched each other, each fitting into a space between two others. The crystals moved up and down, and Devon got the distinct impression the column was somehow powering the ship along.

"How – how is all this possible?" Julia finally managed to ask.

"Dimensional transcendentalism," the Doctor replied.

Julia blinked for a moment, working her way through that phrase, then realized it hadn't answered her question at all.

"But how is it _done?"_ she asked.

"Oh, Dr. Heller," the Doctor looked at her reprovingly. "I can't tell you that, now can I?" He turned back to the console, making a few more adjustments.

Alonzo and Danziger were still looking around in awe, almost afraid to move or touch anything. Alonzo edged over to the bookshelf, and reached for a dusty tome with alien writing he couldn't understand. But as his hand approached the shelf, several books a few inches over suddenly skittered back.

Alonzo jumped back, frightened.

The central column ground to a halt.

"How long until we get there?" Devon asked.

The Doctor flicked a few switches and closed down the view on the ceiling, then looked up at her. "Hmm?" he asked.

"When will we arrive?" she repeated.

The Doctor opened the doors. "See for yourself," he said.

Devon, Danziger and Julia turned to look, and slowly walked outside. Alonzo grabbed the Doctor's arm as he passed by, and pointed at the bookshelf. "The – the – books –" was all he could say.

The Doctor just smiled when he saw the moved books. "Oh, that's all right," he said. "They're not used to strangers. They'd probably let you read them after they knew you for a while. Don't take it personally. Come on!" And he strode outside.

Alonzo just nodded to himself, trying to take it all in, and followed him.

Through the doors, he found himself on the mountainside ledge the Terrians had shown him on the dream plane. They had traversed about 20 miles in less than a minute, beating the ZED to her own campsite!

Now that he could see it more more clearly with his own two eyes, he saw that it was about 40 feet wide. Both above and below, for about half a mile in either direction, thin trees and light shrubbery covered the mountainside, which was pretty steep, but not so steep that a person couldn't walk on it, if only just.

The ZED's camp was on the inside of the shelf, the fire carefully hidden from view. Closer to the edge, Alonzo saw the tracks left by the drop-off shuttle, which the Doctor had noticed before.

"This is incredible," Julia said, shaking her head. "Absolutely incredible."

Danziger pointed at the police box. "Just what is that thing?"

"That is my ship, the TARDIS. It stands for 'Time And Relative Dimension In Space.' The outside is a plasma shell, capable of changing shape to blend in with its surroundings – when it's working properly. But the old girl's chameleon circuit burnt out in London many centuries ago, so it's forever frozen into the shape of a police box, and I've never been inclined to repair it. I think it's rather quaint!"

Alonzo turned to look at the battered old police box. He slowly traced the lettering on the front door.

FREE

FOR USE OF

PUBLIC

ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE

OBTAINABLE IMMEDIATELY

He shook his head in wonder, and smiled. Somehow, it seemed so _right!_

"Why is it called _'Time And_ Relative Dimensions In Space?'" Julia asked.

"Because it's also a time machine," the Doctor answered. He walked back inside, leaving the four humans staring at each other in disbelief.

He stuck his head back out. "Well? Are you coming? We can't be waiting here all day, you know. The ZED might detect the TARDIS if she gets close enough."

Julia sighed and nodded, her face tight with apprehension. Danziger and Alonzo gave her encouraging looks, and walked back inside. The plan was for Julia to stay with a sedaderm, and once again fake being a Council agent. What had worked against one ZED might work against another.

Devon didn't move. Danziger turned in the doorway to look.

"I'm not leaving this place," Devon said.

Danziger sighed, and came back to her. "Adair, listen. I know you're worried about Uly. But Julia's story will work better if she's alone."

"I'll hide somewhere in the bushes," Devon said, shaking her head. "I don't care. But I can't leave, John, please..." She broke down again, unable to hold back any longer all the fear and confusion of the last two hours.

Danziger held her close, comfortingly. "You're in shock, Adair. Between Uly's capture and the Doctor's... _time machine,_ or whatever it is, I think you've been hit too hard. You have to trust us. Trust Julia. If the ZED picks up your heat signature in the bushes because you had to stay and watch, Uly might die." He pulled away to look her in the eyes. "And I know you don't want that on your conscience."

Devon just cried softly for a moment. Then, as if it took all her effort, she just barely managed to nod her head. She allowed John to escort her back into the TARDIS. At the door, she paused and turned to look at Julia.

Julia was also about to cry, looking at her with concern and heartache. Then Julia managed a faint smile and nodded her head, ever so slightly. And in that moment, Devon knew that if anyone could knock out a ZED with a sedaderm twice in their lifetime, it was Dr. Julia Heller.

"We'll keep in contact, Doc," Danziger said. "Start a fire, and hide your gear right up against it. The heat from the blaze might help to mask its energy field so the ZED won't know we're listening in."

Julia nodded. Devon and Danziger entered the TARDIS and shut the doors. Then, wheezing and groaning with the effort, the Doctor's strange ship faded away.

Leaving Julia alone to face the ZED.


	8. Chapter 7

Ten minutes later, even with a fire going strong, Julia was cold. She held herself, shivering.

Then she felt a gun barrel at her ear.

"State your name." It was a woman's voice, emotionless.

"Dr. Julia Heller," she answered plainly, "appointee of the Council, ID Delta 04917." Her shivering was gone. Being faced with certain death if she said the wrong answer had a way of giving her an icy smoothness. She used it to her advantage.

"That is a physician's code. You have no authority in this field. State your business."

Julia stood and faced the ZED for the first time.

It was remarkable. Despite the armor and the cybernetic enhancements visible around her eyes and forehead, she was still quite pretty. Short, slender, with short brown hair and brown eyes.

Eyes that seemed to probe deep beneath her, and yet were flat and lifeless at the same time.

Uly was lying on the ground a few feet behind her, still unconscious. This ZED was indeed a very silent mover.

"Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have irretrievably lost my communication device," Julia explained. "But I knew of your mission, and elected to join you for the trip up to report to Reilly personally, and replace my lost communicator. It was fortunate you were in the area."

"You are the physician with Eden Project, and I saw you myself at their campsite when I abducted the boy. I know you could not have gotten here before me, yet you have. How?" The gun was pointed at her heart.

With perfect calm, Julia replied, "Are you aware of the Terrians' ability to travel through the earth?"

"I am."

"Well, I don't know how much Reilly briefed you before this mission, but I was experimenting on copying their methods, by injecting the boy's DNA into my own system. I, too, am part Terrian – and I traveled through the earth to get here. It's a much faster way of travel than even you can run."

On board the TARDIS, Devon, Danziger, Alonzo and the Doctor held their breaths. Would the ZED buy it?

The ZED did not react in any way that Julia could see. The gun remained steadily trained on her heart – which started to beat a little faster.

Finally the ZED lowered her gun. "Understood," she said. She went to one of the locked crates, as Julia silently let out a sigh of relief.

On board the TARDIS, the others did the same. So far, so good.

The ZED unlocked the crate and pulled out a device of some sort, which Julia assumed was a homing beacon for an automated shuttle. The ZED wasn't completely turned away from her – she could still see Julia out of the corner of one eye. Julia stood perfectly still.

"I was fully briefed on Eden Project's history in preparation for this mission," she said.

Again, Julia tensed. Just _how_ fully briefed? She couldn't have known of Julia's deception, or she'd be dead by now. Wouldn't she?

"The details of how Eden Project defeated ZED Unit 428 are sketchy. However, the name of Dr. Julia Heller is known to me." The ZED closed the crate and set the device down on top of it. "And I have a message for you from Reilly."

The ZED whirled in a lightning move and punched Julia in the face.

Julia went down with a cry, blood gushing everywhere, and the ZED proceeded to beat Julia all over with her armored fists, pummeling her so fast that Julia felt like she was being beaten by five people instead of one. With the precision of her cybernetic enhancements, the ZED never broke a bone, but rained down about 25 hammer blows all over her body in about five seconds, before Julia broke and ran, screaming.

The ZED watched her go, barely breathing hard at all. Then she snatched the device she'd pulled from the crate and sprinted after her.

"Go go go now! She's in trouble!" Alonzo yelled to the Doctor, who was already dematerialising the TARDIS.

The ZED heard it, stopped, and turned.

A blue box groaned into life in her campsite, its back to her, between her and the boy. It was the same box whose owner had somehow evaded her attack earlier that evening.

Devon was out the door first, disregarding any danger, and saw Uly lying on the ground. She sprinted to him and started dragging him inside. Alonzo was right behind her with a magpro, looking for Julia. He glanced around the TARDIS to look behind it – and saw the ZED aim and fire.

He pulled back, already knowing he was too late. But the ZED hadn't been firing at him, specifically. She had simply fired a worm bullet in their direction, knowing it would circle in for the kill. Already Alonzo could hear that nightmarish buzzing, whining sound as it circled in the air, looking for a human to strike.

"Inside, now!" he yelled. Danziger was in the doorway with Devon, pulling Ulysses inside. Alonzo dove in after them, and the worm bullet smashed harmlessly against the closing TARDIS doors.

The mysterious blue box faded away.

The ZED narrowed her eyes and watched it go, remembering every little detail for future analysis. She also noted the boy was gone. She turned and ran after Julia, whom she could clearly hear panting and moaning her way through the woods ahead.

Inside the TARDIS, Devon sobbed and sobbed on the console room floor, holding Ulysses, stroking his hair and rocking him back and forth. He was alive. In fact, he would probably have no memory of the entire ordeal. She could barely believe it.

"We have to rescue Julia," Alonzo panted.

"We don't even know if she's alive," Danziger said softly.

* * *

Julia stumbled on, half sliding, half running, knowing that heading downhill was her only chance. She was so wounded, uphill would have been impossible. She desperately tried not to panic, but found herself crashing blindly on. There was no help for miles, and no way that she knew of for the others in the TARDIS to reach her.

She was going to die.

A high-pitched buzzing noise filled her ears, like an irritating insect she couldn't see. Just as she realized what it was, her front left thigh exploded in pain. She tumbled head over heels and slid downhill, screeching in agony.

Don't pass out, she thought. Oh, God, Julia, don't pass out! She breathed deeply and promptly choked on the blood covering her face. She turned halfway over and coughed it out, wiping it off. Every inch of her body hurt to move or touch, including her arm, but she had no choice. She wiped blood onto her sleeve as best she could.

She lay on her back, her body pointed down the mountainside, her feet above her head. Through the trees above her, she could see the stars. They were so peaceful. She suddenly went numb all over, felt so oddly relaxed. Slowly she began to accept that her life was about to end.

Trembling, she reached into her jacket pocket for the sedaderm. She could at least try to take the ZED with her. She might yet get one chance.

But as soon as she pulled the sedaderm out of her pocket, a boot crushed her wrist, pinning her hand to the ground. She moaned softly. She had no more screams left in her.

The ZED knelt down. She was so infuriatingly calm.

Julia saw that the device in her hand was a communications device. The ZED put it over Julia's head, then turned it on. Then she activated her own.

Blackness surrounded them. They were in virtual reality. The ZED said, "We're in." A few moments later, a third figure joined them.

Reilly.

"My, my!" he said slowly. He walked around her for a few seconds, then knelt down to take a closer look. "You know, Dr. Heller, I do believe you have looked better."


	9. Chapter 8

Devon applied the injector to Uly, and watched as he groggily came awake.

"How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

He rubbed his face with one hand. "Tired," he said. "Sore."

"The middle of the night," Danziger smiled. "Being tired right now is what you're supposed to be feeling."

"Then why did you wake me up to ask me that?" Uly yawned, and nestled his head against his mother's shoulder, too tired at the moment to even wonder where he was. She kissed his forehead.

A light started flashing on the TARDIS console. The Doctor noticed it and examined a readout, his brows furrowed.

"What's going on?" Alonzo asked.

"I set the TARDIS to scan for any communications between the planet and a satellite, and it's picked something up. It might mean the ZED is still calling the shuttle down to pick her up."

Alonzo asked, "Well why would she do that if-" He stopped, as a voice came over the speaker. The Doctor had tapped into the signal.

"-lieve you have looked better," the voice said.

"It's a lasercast signal," the Doctor said. "Let's see who this is, shall we?"

All this activity woke Ulysses up some more, and he started to take in his surroundings.

The Doctor flicked another switch. A holovid of the conversation they were picking up shimmered into existence before them, in between the tea cart and the sofa.

It took all of them a moment to recognize who the woman on the floor was.

"Oh, dear God!" Devon whispered.

* * *

Julia didn't answer. Can't let him goad me, she thought. Can't let him trick me into giving anything away he wants to know. She closed her eyes, ignoring him. She spit out some blood.

Reilly nodded, just once.

The ZED kicked her in the stomach. Julia convulsed, and almost retched.

"I want you to look at me when I'm talking to you," Reilly said. "The ZED will find a new and interesting way to make you do that every time you turn away."

"She does it enough times, I'll die," Julia whispered.

"No, you won't – not yet, anyway," he answered. "The ZED will make sure of that. She has just as much knowledge about anatomy as you. Although for a completely different purpose."

* * *

"I'm gonna kill him," Alonzo whispered. There was a fire raging inside him. "I swear I'm gonna kill that bastard!"

* * *

"What do you want?" Julia asked. It was so difficult to talk.

"Only to see you one last time before you die," he said. "And to remind you of why this is happening to you. Do you remember what I told you, Heller? Do you remember one of the last things I told you before you betrayed me?"

* * *

"Doctor, he's going to kill her!" Devon said. "Can you track her signal and land where she is?"

"Yes, but I don't know what good that would do. Charging headlong against a ZED, even armed, would be madness, and the TARDIS takes a few seconds to materialize. You would have no surprise."

* * *

Reilly leaned in close. "I told you that you would _die running,_ didn't I Heller?"

* * *

"Doctor, we don't have a choice," Alonzo said.

"Why can't we home in on Reilly?" Danziger asked. "If I had a gun to his head, I guarantee you he wouldn't order Julia to be killed."

"And you think there won't be any ZEDs on the station where he is?" the Doctor asked. "That would be foolhardy. However – there might be another way."

* * *

"In case you haven't figured it out," Reilly went on, "this ZED unit isn't hunting penal colonists any more. I pulled it from its other duties for the sole purpose of capturing Ulysses Adair and hunting you down. I took a guess as to where you were, based on your path to New Pacifica, and instructed the ZED to wait for you to come out of the mountains – and you're no longer in a blackout zone. She was under specific orders to force you to run before shooting you. You see, unlike you, the ZEDs can follow orders."

"And I think for myself," Julia whispered. "One up for me."

* * *

The Doctor said, "I'm going to break in on their transmission, bluff him into keeping her alive. It may be the only way to save her without committing suicide ourselves."

"What are you going to tell him?" Devon looked worried.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied. "I'll find out when I start talking."

* * *

Reilly turned to the ZED. "I assume your mission has been successful?"

"No," she answered.

Reilly's mask of cool composure fell.

"They succeeded in recapturing the boy. The only hostage I have is this woman."

* * *

The Doctor stopped, watching Reilly. "I don't think we need to worry," he said. "If I know my paranoid megalomaniacs – and I do – I think I know what's coming next."

* * *

"Then why are we standing here having this conversation?" Reilly fumed. "Heller is secondary. I want that boy!"

"He is beyond my reach," the ZED said simply. "The colonists recaptured him using a technology I've never seen before. Unless I receive further orders from you, I have no choice but to revert to standby."

Reilly thought for a moment, his hand on his chin. The Doctor observed him. He was one cool customer, all right. He didn't waste time with recriminations or denials – he simply accepted the facts as they were, no matter how unpleasant, and searched for a solution.

This was a very dangerous man, indeed.

"I've studied Eden Project, and read their files," Reilly finally said. "I have every reason to believe they'll come back for Heller. For now, keep her alive, and interrogate her. Deal with them when they come after you. In the meantime, upload the information you have. I want to analyze whatever technology you saw."

"Yes, sir." The ZED broke communication. The hologram images faded away.

"Just as I thought," the Doctor said. "I figured a calculating man like himself wouldn't waste a hostage if his primary mission wasn't achieved. For now, Julia will remain alive."

"So how are we going to get her out of there?" Danziger asked.

"We'll have to go back and get the others," Alonzo said. "Just mount an all-out attack."

"We can't do that!" Devon said. "Anyone hit with a worm bullet would die. You saw Julia – even if we killed the ZED, she's in no condition to operate on anyone."

"Actually, I could operate on someone," the Doctor said. "There is a reason I'm called, 'the Doctor,' you know. However – there is another way."

He picked up the satchel he had carefully brought with him from the Edenites' camp. He opened it up. Inside was a koba.

"It's the same one who poisoned Cameron," he smiled. "I figured it wouldn't wander too far, and I was right. I went out and called to it, and it came."

Danziger asked, "How can a koba help-" then his face cleared.

"The ZEDs are still human beings!" Devon said. "They can be poisoned by a koba just as easily as one of us can!"

"Precisely," the Doctor said. "The only problem is that Julia was shot about 55 minutes ago, and there's no time to train this animal to throw thorns at the people we want it to."

"So you're thinking of collecting a few of its nails to use as weapons?" Danziger asked. "Our sedaderms can do that much – and faster."

"No," the Doctor replied. "I'm thinking that if the koba feels protective towards me, as obviously it does, then it will strike at anyone attacking me."

"That means you would have to place yourself in danger," Devon said. "And hope that this animal really does like you, _and_ that it won't miss!"

"We got no choice, Dev," Danziger said. "The Doctor's plan is the best one I've heard, and Julia doesn't have much time."

"Time," Devon said, then looked up at the Doctor sharply. "Time! Of course, this is a time machine! We could go-"

The Doctor put a hand up. "Don't even think it, Devon. We can't."

"We can't what? Go back and rescue Julia before she gets shot? Just materialize in front of her and pick her up! We know exactly where she'll be from the signal we received!"

"And if we pick her up, the ZED never captures her, and the signal never gets sent in the first place, and you have a paradox."

Devon frantically searched for an argument against that. She couldn't find one.

"Devon, I'm a Time Lord. I'm well-versed in temporal physics, and I've been traversing the time lines for almost a thousand years. Believe me – I know what I'm talking about."

All this time, Ulysses had been circling the console, looking at the blinking lights. He reached for a switch. The Doctor's hand gently reached down and caught him by the wrist, pulling his hand away. "Not that one," he muttered.

"Is this really a time machine?" he asked innocently.

"Yes, it is," the Doctor said.

"Cool." He laid his head on the edge of the console and absently stroked one of the wooden time dials. It showed today's date on the New Earth calendar. "Mom, can we go back and get Robbie and bring him here?"

Devon's face filled with sympathy, and she glanced at the Doctor. "Robbie was Uly's best friend back on the stations," she explained. "He...died. Two days before we left."

The Doctor looked down at Uly with pity, and gently knelt beside him. "No, Ulysses, I'm sorry. We can't do that. Time travel can't be used in that way."

"Why not?"

The Doctor sighed. Images of Tegan and Nyssa rose before him, berating him, calling him heartless because he wouldn't go back to save Adric. They hadn't understood, either. He wasn't sure Tegan had ever quite forgiven him.

"Well, because it's an event that has already happened. And once an event has crystallized in the web of time, it cannot be changed."

Uly just stood silently, not comprehending.

"Let me put it this way – why stop with Robbie? Why don't I just go ahead and go back in time to prevent the crash, and save O'Neill? Or even bring all the Syndrome children straight here from the stations 22 years ago? Or save the Titanic from sinking, or prevent World War III?"

"I don't know," Ulysses shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because I can't," the Doctor said. "The only ones who can do such things are beings so abominably powerful, and with so much psychic energy, like the Osirans, that they almost live outside of time itself, and would not be interested in helping people like you and me. If I tried, the TARDIS wouldn't take me there, and I'd just end up somewhere else. Or I would go there, but events would happen anyway despite my efforts to stop it, like being in a VR movie.

"We can't just keep going back in time to negate every horrible event, every flunked test, every bad first impression, every failed attempt, every death. Even if we could, other things would happen in their place – things which would be equally good, bad, or controversial. We have to cherish the people we love, the times we have, and the things we enjoy while they're still with us, because nothing lasts forever. This is true even for Time Lords.

"I mean, think of what you're asking – millions of people traversing the time lines, writing and rewriting the past until there is no future any more. And not just for good intentions – for evil ones, as well. There are a couple of evil Time Lords I've run into many times in my life. Not even they can alter established history, although they've tried several times. We're all forced to work within the constraints of what we have available. You can't rewrite history, Barbara – not one line."

"Barbara?" Danziger asked quietly. The others traded confused looks.

The Doctor tilted his head to one side, wondering. Now why did he think of Barbara Wright after all these centuries?

"I still don't understand," Uly said.

"You will, Uly, someday," Devon said suddenly. "Believe me – you will."

The Doctor turned to look at her, and Devon felt those thousand-year-old eyes delving deep into her soul, as if nothing was hidden from them. He could tell she knew more than she let on. But whatever he saw there, he didn't say.

"Doctor," Alonzo said. "Julia."

"Yes," the Doctor stood up. He showed the map on the ceiling again, and selected a point just above the ZED's mountainside encampment. "I'm going in alone. I want the rest of you to stay here."

The central column ground to a halt. The Doctor gently picked up the koba and walked outside, having to step down a little as he did. Looking back at the TARDIS, he saw why.

The TARDIS was leaning against a tree. It was the only way it could land on the mountainside without tumbling down it. The Doctor smiled, shaking his head. His ship never ceased to amaze him with something new.

He started walking. The others stood in the doorway, watching him go.

After a few minutes, the Doctor set the koba on the ground. The animal looked up at him, confused. The Doctor took a few more steps, then turned and smiled. "You can't possibly expect me to carry you everywhere, now can you?" He walked on, gingerly stepping his way down the steep mountainside. He took out his sonic screwdriver and held it over his head, activating it slightly so there could be no doubt the ZED would detect it.

The koba happily followed him, holding its little arm over its head.

The others watched until the Doctor was out of sight. Alonzo said, "I just can't wait here."

Danziger nodded, and motioned them forward. Devon turned and pointed a finger at Uly, who had grabbed his staff and had started to go with them. "Whatever happens, do not leave the TARDIS!" She turned to follow the others.

"You're supposed to stay put, too."

Devon whipped her head back around, staring at her precocious child, who stared right back at her. Finally, she said, "Just...stay here."

Uly didn't argue, but stood in the door and watched them go.


	10. Chapter 9

The ZED was sitting on one of her crates. On the ground in front of her lay the remains of Julia's gear, which she had hidden earlier by the fire. Twice, Julia had tried to pass out. The ZED wouldn't let her.

"What technology did you find that enabled you to rescue the boy?" she asked for the 20th time. The question was the same every time, asked in exactly the same way. It was the equivalent of Chinese water torture.

Julia didn't fall for it. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on the pain in her leg. The pain that crawled up towards her stomach.

The waiting was awful.

She heard the ZED get up, and braced herself for another kick. But it didn't come. She opened her eyes.

The ZED was facing away from her, up the mountainside. She bent to pick up her gun, then said simply, "Don't run off. I'll be back as quickly as I can."

Julia had thought she couldn't feel any worse. She was wrong. The horror that stabbed through her was ten times worse than the pain of the bullet and her aching body. The fools! she thought. I'm not worth rescuing! No!

But the tiny woman was gone like a ghost, up the mountainside.

She had to do something. No pain in the universe mattered. Not now.

Trembling – with the effort, or the realization of what she had to do, she wasn't sure which – Julia pulled out her knife.

It was so odd. Back in her medical school days, someone had actually asked her, "If you were in a tight spot, and had to operate on yourself – _without anasthetic_ – could you do it?" And laughing like a young fool, she'd said, "Not no, but _hell_ no!"

It wouldn't be the first time she'd been wrong.

Sobbing slightly, bracing herself for what was about to happen, she gingerly felt along her own leg, feeling for the bullet, realizing that she didn't even have the luxury of getting it over with quickly.

Do it, she thought – _now!_

She sliced open her own leg.

She reared her head back and screamed.

* * *

The ZED heard the scream. She turned to look back briefly, then continued on.

The Doctor heard the scream. His body shook with the force of it, his eyes squinting in thought and compassion.

Devon, Danziger and Alonzo dimly heard the scream from far down the slope. "Julia!" Alonzo cried. He jumped up and ran downhill. Devon was close behind.

"Wait – dammit!" Danziger exclaimed. He ran after them both, practically leaping down the mountainside. He turned sideways and rolled, taking them both off their feet. Everyone sprawled.

"Quiet!" he hissed, sitting up before either of them could say a word. "This isn't the way to help anyone!" He grabbed Alonzo by the shirt front. "I know you love her, man, but this isn't the way to help her!"

Alonzo just sat, breathing hard, then finally nodded his head. He squeezed his eyes shut in agony as Julia screamed again. Danziger, too, grimaced at the anguished cry. He turned to Devon–

And saw her running down the mountainside below them, headed for Julia.

 _"Dammit,_ Adair!" Danziger spat quietly, shaking his head.

He watched her go. His heart said to run after her. His head said to wait right where he was.

He sighed. Then he turned to Alonzo. "We're going," he said. "But we're going slowly and carefully, no matter what – got it?"

Alonzo just nodded.

* * *

Julia had her jacket around her leg, soaking blood. Crying, she reached inside, feeling her own muscles, trying to get slippery, numb fingers around a bullet which was still burrowing forward. The pain had actually receded. Just like noise can't sound any louder once it reaches a certain volume, even if it still rises, so had the pain reached a crescendo, and actually backed off into a kind of dreamy, throbbing numbness. Her head spun.

Then there was something hovering in front of her face. She squinted to see what it was. It was a bullet. She started to smile a crazy, delirious smile. The bullet was being held by a bloody hand. Was it hers? She followed the arm down to her own shoulder. After a moment, she realized it was indeed her own hand. She'd gotten the bullet out of herself.

She tied her jacket around her leg, feeling the tight pain shoot up her body and keep her awake, just for a moment longer. After binding the wound, she lay back on the ground, resting, despite herself. The bullet lay on her chest.

Don't pass out, she thought, don't-

She passed out, twitching and groaning into a nightmare world.

Awake again. Coming and going. How long? she thought. She checked her watch. She hadn't been out for more than a few minutes, possibly a few seconds. Bless the Council and their training, she thought ironically, and laughed a little at the thought. She felt blackness overtake her again.

She fought it off. Just one more thing, she thought. There'll be all the time for rest in just a few minutes. Just please, God, let me do this one last thing...

She barely had enough energy to roll over, much less throw a bullet more than six inches. Slowly she dragged herself around the smoldering fire, wincing as her leg protested the movement. Hauling herself inch by inch over to the ZED's crates, she picked up her sedaderm. Her face fell, and she almost gave in to despair.

The vial had been cracked. The sleeping draught was gone, spilled away.

She lay there for a second, breathing hard, then did the only remaining thing she could think of.

She fumbled down by her leg in her jacket pockets, feeling for her remaining empty vials from the basic supply she usually kept on herself. She had three. Pulling them out, she saw two were cracked. The third was still intact.

Her hand trembling with the effort, her fingers stiff and bloody, she gingerly picked up the bullet and tried to drop it in the vial. She was shaking so hard, she missed twice, dropping it. Crying in frustration, she finally got it in. It fit – barely.

She capped it and attached it to the sedaderm, then fell back, resting.

The sedaderm was designed to inject any sort of substance into the human body, and the pressure could be adjusted accordingly. At most, the sedaderm could actually inject marrow or a healer vaccine into a person's bone.

She adjusted the sedaderm to maximum now, and let the pressure build up inside. She gazed up the mountainside, puzzled as to why she couldn't hear anything. She hoped this was good. Maybe the ZED had been drawn away by a diversion. Maybe...

The mountainside was becoming lighter, lit by the two moons rising high in the sky, over the mountain's crest. She couldn't see anyone up there. She nodded, assured that Devon and Danziger wouldn't be so stupid as to commit suicide by going one on one with a ZED. Alonzo? He might, the big lunk. She smiled briefly at the thought.

She held the sedaderm in one hand, with the vial pointing up the mountainside, and her knife in the other. Stop shaking! she thought. Stop it! You only get one shot at this – now do what you have to do!

Breathing in and gritting her teeth, she flashed the knife down and snapped off the vial's cap.

And the bullet shot up the mountainside, away from her.

She fell back, relieved. By her reckoning, it would explode in a few minutes.

The ZED would never go near a hostage who was about to blow up. But if she could lure the ZED to her, or even _near_ her, Julia reasoned, she might catch her anyway.

Because when the bullet exploded, it would create a landslide, and landslides covered considerably more ground than explosions did.

And maybe – just maybe – if she could get the ZED near enough, she could catch her in a landslide created by her own bullet.

Even if that landslide took herself, as well.

* * *

The ZED had stopped, considering. She had heard the commotion farther up the hill, when Danziger had tackled Devon and Alonzo, and she was puzzled. It was obviously a diversion of some sort. She was obviously meant to follow one party while the other moved in to rescue the woman. However, since more people would die in order to accomplish this, the ZED didn't quite know what to make of it. Her logic told her that there must be some complicated plan going on here, all the parts of which she didn't yet see.

So she would not do anything expected of her – keep the enemy guessing.

She silently climbed a tree. She could take them all out with worm bullets if she wanted to, but she didn't. If possible, she wanted to find out more about this strange technology before doing anything, or else she couldn't fight it.

She waited.

* * *

The Doctor silently walked on through the trees. He glanced at his pocketwatch, worried. Time was running short for Julia, and the ZED had not appeared. What was going wrong?

He stopped, thinking, and lowered the sonic screwdriver, his arm beginning to ache. He scanned the mountainside below him, now becoming lit by the two moons rising higher in the sky, over the mountain's crest. Nothing moved.

He turned and looked above him. As soon as he did, the ZED dropped out of the trees behind him and flipped him onto his back. He landed with a yell.

As quick as lightning, the koba threw a thorn straight at the ZED's face.

And as quick as lightning, the ZED snatched it out of the air, two inches in front of her cheek. She held it there perfectly, poised between thumb and finger.

The Doctor's hearts raced.

The koba didn't do anything else. The Doctor looked at it, and realized the animal was going on pure instinct. Probably no koba in history had ever had to throw more than one thorn. It had used its weapon; now it was patiently waiting for the ZED to fall. It didn't know that that wasn't going to happen.

The ZED placed one foot on the Doctor's chest and aimed her gun straight down. "Do you have any statement to make before you are killed?" she asked.

The Doctor silently reached over with his hand and picked a flower. He slid it into the gun's barrel.

"That plant will not stop a bullet," the ZED stated.

"I'm not trying to stop the bullet," the Doctor replied. "I'm trying to stop you."

"If you wish to live, tell me about the blue box."

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked. "I'll tell you all about the blue box, and how to make one yourself, if you can just tell me your name."

Silence.

"It doesn't even occur to you to make up a name, does it?" he asked. "A person would have, you know. A real person – one who thinks for herself instead of living an automated death, enslaved to another. What's your name? What did you do before you became a ZED? Were you a bank robber? A terrorist? Or maybe you just spoke out once too often against the wrong person, for the right reasons, and someone thought it would be ironic to turn you into this twisted travesty I see before me. Maybe you were a nice schoolteacher, a mother, a wife, a florist, maybe you were anything! Anything at all. Tell me," the Doctor whispered, his voice soft, a sigh like the warm breeze, "who were you before you became a ZED? What did you do? Whom did you love? Tell me. What was your name?"

The ZED didn't move. Not a muscle, not a blink, not a quiver.

But her eyes moved. Somehow, although they didn't budge, they moved, shifted focus, and for a second, the ZED wasn't seeing the Doctor. She was seeing something else, something...

"Final statement recorded," she said. "Death to take place immediately due to the fact that I already have a hostage."

"ZED unit!" called a voice from down the mountainside. It was Julia.

The ZED paused.

"ZED unit, if you can hear me, please come quickly!" she yelled. "I'll tell you everything! Please! I don't want to die!"

Julia was looking up the slope in desperation, hoping she'd timed it right. What if she was off by a few minutes either way?

"Julia!" a voice hissed.

She turned. "Devon?"

And there was Devon Adair running into the camp.

"Julia, come on, we've got to get you out of here!"

"No, Devon! Go! Run now! As fast as you can!"

* * *

The ZED stood poised over the Doctor, finger on the trigger, but looking intently in the direction of Julia's voice. Slowly, the Doctor stretched out his hand for his sonic screwdriver, lying just inches beyond his fingertips.

Then the ZED's enhanced hearing caught the sound – the beeping noise made by the worm bullet before detonation.

But the sound was wrong, somehow. She tilted her head, listening. Yes, that was it – it came from a different direction than the hostage's voice.

In that moment, she knew she had lost her hostage. Reilly had told her not to underestimate Eden Project.

"I will have to take a new hostage," she stated. "Prepare yourself." She shifted her aim to the Doctor's right thigh.

The Doctor snatched his sonic screwdriver and pulled the cylinder down hard. Sound waves split the air.

And the ZED's cybernetic circuitry adjoining her right eye burst in a shower of sparks. She screamed once, dropping her gun and clutching her face.

Then the bullet exploded.

And the mountainside began to move.

Devon and Julia looked up in horror.

Danziger and Alonzo watched in shock as the orange blossom split the night, a mere fifty yards below them. They shielded their eyes, then watched the land below the explosion begin to slide away.

"Julia..." Alonzo breathed.

"Mom!" Uly yelled, and ran out the TARDIS.

The koba, head whirling in alarm, zipped up a tall tree as high as it could go.

The ZED took one look at roaring wall of dirt, trees, and shrubbery bearing down on them, and she was gone, sprinting with superhuman speed off to the side, trying to get out of its path.

The Doctor, shaking his head to clear his ears of the blast, looked up just in time to see the mountainside wash over him like a breaking wave. He tumbled helplessly along in a swirling, choking darkness, buried deeper each second.

The tree holding the koba was felled, and down it went, the koba yelling the whole way down. But it was so tall that by the time it hit the ground, the worst had passed, and the little animal landed on top of the rubble, sliding downhill, scared but unharmed.

Devon and Julia, however, were dead center in its path. They yelled and clutched each other desperately, then 500 tons of rubble slammed into them and swept them away.


	11. Chapter 10

Danziger and Alonzo slid down the mountainside, frantically calling "Julia!" and "Devon!" Neither knew what they could hope to find.

Uly came sliding down after them. Breathing hard, he reached the two men. Almost absentmindedly, Alonzo put his hand on his back, instinctively trying to protect him from the ZED. But all three were looking around silently at the suddenly barren slope.

"Mr. Danziger," Uly asked. "Where's my mom?"

Danziger didn't know what to say. Finally, he just shook his head and said, "I don't know, kid."

The mountainside had changed. There was no sign of the ZED's camp, or even a clue as to where it had been.

Uly looked down the mountain, fear growing within him. Real fear, for the first time in his life – not like what he'd felt when they'd crashed, or in the Terrian cave on his birthday. Each of those fears, and a double-dozen others, had been calmed by the presence of his mother, his protector – believing in him, providing the answer, providing warmth, providing love.

But now, his terror came from the realization that his protector might well and truly have gone away for good. He trembled.

He remembered what the Doctor said about time travel, and death, and how permanent it was. And he also remembered what the Doctor had said around the campfire earlier that night.

He had a feeling. Somehow, he could not keep from looking down the mountainside, as if he _knew_ where his mother was. Or as if...his _other_ mother knew where she was.

Silently, he crouched down on his feet, his knees pointing up. He lay his hands flat on the surface of the earth. He closed his eyes, and listened to what the feelings were saying.

Danziger and Alonzo watched, spellbound.

After a few seconds, Uly stood up, as if in a trance. Then he hunched his shoulders and dropped into the earth.

Seconds passed. Then abruptly, he arose again – about 100 yards down the mountainside. In each of his tiny arms was a person. Julia lay like a limp rag. His mother madly gasped for air, coughing and spluttering.

Danziger and Alonzo raced downhill.

* * *

The Doctor was dying.

Trapped in a concrete darkness, unable to move a muscle, he began to drift in and out of consciousness. His emergency air supply wasn't going to hold out much longer.

He wondered if he would quickly regenerate five times, while buried beneath the ground. It was a horrible thought – dying of suffocation five times over.

He was getting delirious. Old faces – friends and enemies alike – were beginning to come to mind, and they were saying the dumbest things. The Master wanted to fly a kite with him – something to do with the air he so desperately needed? He couldn't tell. He'd long ago learned to tune out whatever the Master was saying, anyway. Jo Grant was dancing with a Dalek, which sometimes became the Brigadier. Daleks and Brigadiers – yes, they were alike, in a strange, twisted sort of way. At least he could trust the Brigadier to care.

Then he was in a restaurant of some sort. "The Grendler Bar and Grille," it said. It was a nice place – piano in the corner, low light, plush cushions. Very fancy.

He walked in and sat at the bar, feeling as if his clothes were out of place. The barstool seats were bright red leather. Plants adorned either end of the bar. His koba friend sat on the stool next to him. The little animal had an eyepatch, and a bright grin on its face.

"Get you something?" it asked.

"Yes, indeed," the Doctor replied. But he wasn't himself. He was his fourth self, the one with the scarf and that _appalling_ sense of humor, because he couldn't stand it if he wasn't the life of the party.

Great – a past regeneration. They were always lurking around the subconscious somewhere. They bubbled up in times like these.

Suddenly, it was his first self – the old grandfather figure – who was at the bar.

"You there, young man," he said cheerfully. The bartender was a Terrian, in a white shirt and black vest. It was wiping glasses, its back turned to him.

"I'd like to order a Double Moon Cross for myself, and a Sonic Screwdriver for my friend, here," he said. But the Terrian did not turn around. It continued wiping its glass.

The voices of the others in the restaurant were becoming louder, for some reason. The Doctor started to reach over and tug the bartender's sleeve, when suddenly the noise reached a deafening roar. He put his hands to his ears. "Barbara – take Susan and get her out of here, now!" he snapped. He looked up to see the bartender looking over the bar at him.

Then the voices receded to a murmur. They sounded like a billion voices whispering on the edge of sleep, voices he could never quite hear no matter how hard he tried to listen, and could never quite reach no matter how far he traveled.

But that didn't mean the voices couldn't reach _him_ – if he asked.

They were trying to tell him something. What were they saying? How did he listen? What did he have to...feel?

"Connect with us," they seemed to be saying. "Connect with us again." They didn't use words. The Doctor could only feel the desire.

"When did I connect with you?" he felt back.

Memories came at him. Not his own; a racial memories. "You came to us millenia ago," he felt. "Your body was different, your granddaughter was with you. We were becoming what we are today, but we were afraid. You calmed our fears, and helped us with the changes we were experiencing. You were happy for us. We did not agree with everything you said, but we respected your wisdom, and have always remembered you for it. We knew you when you landed. Your face was different, but we sensed the soul inside."

"You knew who I was..." the Doctor thought.

"We knew..."

"Connect with us..."

"You could sense my soul? I was the same?"

"Connect with us like you did of old..."

"I am"

"Every regeneration..."

"You are"

"Time Lord"

"Connect with us..."

"We knew you..."

"We could tell..."

"Connect..."

"You knew that I was..."

"and still are..."

I am

You are

 _The Doctor._

* * *

And the earth moved.

With a rushing in his ears as loud as thunder, the earth flowed like a shining bright stream, pushing him forward like blood from a heartbeat, carrying life to life, with an exhilaration he'd never felt before! Flowing along that earthen highway, his body tingled as if he was flying on invisible wings, while still safe within a mother's womb. He'd never felt so free, so joyful.

Emerging from the ground like a newborn into the night, the Doctor opened his eyes with a smile, and breathed deeply of the double moons crossing high above.

He looked down, and found the koba at his feet.

It was terrified.

The Doctor smiled, and bent down to pet the animal. "You've had a rough, night, haven't you, little one?"

The koba just purred softly. It was looking around in alarm, afraid that at any moment the sky would fall.

"I don't think you'll have any more surprises tonight," he said. "Why don't you stay here? You've done enough for a lifetime."

The Doctor tickled the koba one final time under the chin, then left it alone.

Since it was now devoid of any plant life, he could clearly see the entire mountainside, from the blast site downwards, in the bright moonlight. A little ways off he spotted the others.

And someone was with them.

* * *

Working quickly, methodically, the ZED clawed her way out of the ground.

Caught on the very edge of the landslide, she hadn't been buried very deep. Now, wounded and weaponless, she finally pulled herself free. She stood and surveyed the situation, calmly ripping away the damaged circuitry from her face.

They had come at her from up the mountainside. She had witnessed the blue box's ability to appear and disappear, and had seen people come in and out of it. Therefore, it stood to reason that this mobile base of theirs was farther up the mountain.

She would go to it, and wait for them.

She started climbing.

* * *

The Doctor joined the others, surprised and elated that everyone was alive. Danziger held Devon in his arms, giving her the comfort she so desperately needed after her ordeal. Julia was unconscious. Her left arm was broken. Alonzo tended her as best he could.

A little ways off, Uly was meeting with three Terrians – and the Doctor understood their conversation. Their language was no longer gibberish to him. Uly was telling them that the damage was because of a battle which had been fought there, and that it was over now.

The Terrians regarded the Doctor as he approached. He nodded solemnly, and they nodded in return. He turned his attention to Julia.

"What happened?" Alonzo asked.

"I'm not sure. I met the ZED, just before the explosion, then she ran off. I don't know where she is." He picked up Julia's diaglove and gave it a quick scan to familiarize himself with its functions. Then he took off his coat and put the glove on.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"I will in a moment." He checked her out. "It's a close call, but I think she'll live." He hesitated, looking around him. "I think we should get back to the TARDIS rather than waste time making a sling for her arm. We're not safe here. I'm not willing to bet that the ZED was caught in that landslide."

He looked at Uly. One of the Terrians held his wooden staff, and they were all curiously examining it. They handed it back to him.

Then they dropped into the earth.

Uly rejoined them. He was still a nine-year-old boy, but something about him had changed. He somehow seemed to possess more authority. He looked calm, purposeful, almost like divinely-chosen royalty – yet not quite, for he didn't possess any arrogance. He looked as if he'd just been charged with a mission, and he meant to see it out before his life was through.

For a moment, it even seemed as if he would open his mouth and take charge.

Just like an Adair, Danziger thought whimsically.

But he didn't. He came up to his mother and held her hand, trying to let her know that everything was all right. She collapsed on the ground and hugged him tightly.

Alonzo put his arms under Julia and, grunting slightly, picked her up, grateful she couldn't feel the pain in her arm as he did so. Together, they trudged wearily back up the hill in silence, watching for the slightest sign of attack.

No one uttered a word as they passed the blast site. Above it, the trees and undergrowth were undisturbed. Devon held Uly's hand more tightly.

They moved on cautiously. Minutes passed, and nothing happened. They quickened their pace. The TARDIS came into view.

The ZED leaped out from the trees like a silent phantom, leveling the Doctor and sending him sprawling. He lay where he landed, dazed.

Even as the others registered what was happening, the ZED spin-kicked Danziger in the chest and backhanded Alonzo across his face, all in one move. They both went flying; Julia landing in a heap on Alonzo.

Devon shoved Uly behind her and madly reached for the sedaderm in her pocket, then kicked and screamed as the ZED picked her up, held her high over her head, and threw her 30 feet. _"No! Uly! Get back to the TARDIIIIIIIS!"_ There was a horrendous _crack_ as Devon's left knee shattered as she hit the ground. She screamed – still for her son, always for her son. She madly pulled herself along the ground back at the ZED–

who stopped and looked at her.

The ZED did not continue her attack. She silently observed Devon's desperate struggle, oblivious to any wound, uncaring of any odds, as she fought to save her son.

And the ZED recognized the depths this woman felt for her child. Recognized it again, as a memory of a memory of a feeling she might have known, once.

It didn't matter.

She ignored the woman's cries; she could not reach her in time. The males were still stunned. The one she'd kicked was even beating the ground madly with his fists, choking, for the breath had been knocked out of him. The boy was hers. She reached for him.

And Ulysses lowered his head and blasted her with lightning from his staff.

He blew the ZED off her feet, slamming her back against a tree. She didn't cry out. No shock registered on her face, no surprise. She simply staggered, her arm outstretched, and stood up.

Uly blasted her again. Not to kill – just to keep her away. She fell. This time, she stayed down.

The Doctor and Alonzo slowly sat up. Danziger dragged great draughts of air into his lungs, coughing. Devon lay on the ground, barely believing what she was seeing. She had been so certain it was all over, that the ZED would take her son away from her. Her heart raced. The pain in her knee was excruciating.

The ZED was lying on her back, blinking at the sky. She was still trying to get up, but her right arm just moved in a feeble circle. Her body was convulsing badly.

The Doctor knelt beside her, and Alonzo almost didn't believe what the Time Lord said next.

"Tell us how we can help you."

"M-m-mission...failure," the ZED was able to say. "Captured."

"No!" the Doctor said. "Listen! I – none of us here – have taken you prisoner, do you understand? You are not our prisoner!"

"Initiating...cyanide r-release..."

"No!" the Doctor yelled. "I tell you you have _not_ been captured! You are _not_ our prisoner – you don't have to end this way! Let us help you!" He desperately searched for something she could understand, something she could use. "Search your programming, and you'll find that there are no orders to commit suicide if you have not been captured!"

The ZED just looked at him. It took the Doctor a second to realize that she was crying.

A single tear had appeared. It ran a wet trail down her cheek, and dropped to the earth.

"I...was captured...a long...time ago."

The Doctor's face softened. The others looked on from where they sat or lay, even Devon.

"My name..." she said. "My...name – it's..."

She lay still.

The Doctor gently closed her eyes. He said softly, "And for every one who is held captive, the rest of us are a little less free."


	12. Epilogue

The Doctor stayed with Eden Project a couple more days, helping them recover. Eventually, the Edenites got used to the odd police telephone box by the campfire, which had materialized in their midst without warning in the middle of the night, bringing Uly and the others back home.

Devon's knee and Julia's arm healed without mishap, although Julia would be sore for about a week. She quickly became the subject of teasing when she refused to stay in bed for a couple of days, although everyone else insisted on it. She finally did, realizing that if she couldn't take a little sensible medicine, she would lose all hope of anyone else following her recommendations. But she didn't like it.

Several people wanted to use the ZED's gear to confront Reilly, just to show him they had beaten him again. But most of the group – especially those involved in the battle – really had no desire to do this. They reasoned that taunting Reilly would lead to worse in the future, and they weren't interested in engaging in a petty display of one-upmanship. They just wanted to lose Reilly and move on.

Besides, they reasoned – the silence would be the best revenge of all.

In the end, they destroyed all the ZED's equipment she'd had on her. They buried her, holding a full funeral and marking the grave with a cross. Yale emphasized that people remembered her, not as someone evil, but as a tool of those who were. On the cross, Uly insisted on naming her "Robbie," saying it could be a girl's name as well as a boy's. No one argued with him.

He was pretty shaken up by the way he'd confronted the ZED, and Devon had had to reassure him over and over that he hadn't killed her – that she had released the cyanide herself, and that, technically, Reilly and the Council were her murderers, not him. But she knew it would haunt him for a long time to come.

* * *

On the morning of the third day, the Doctor seemed distant. He often stopped and looked at the sky, or stared off at the horizon, and frequently failed to hear people when they spoke to him. Devon knew what was coming next, and she knew the chance to ask her question was now or never.

She walked with the Doctor up the stream a little ways, away from camp, asking questions about where he'd been, and what he'd seen, and whom he'd met throughout history. Despite her professional and diplomatic skills, she was surprised at how easily the Doctor could shift the conversation or deflect a question, and she caught herself more than once talking on and on, even though she had been planning to ask, and then shut up and listen.

And she got the feeling the Doctor knew what she wanted to ask, and wasn't going to let her get there.

She asked him again how his ship worked.

"Well, you dream a little dream, Devon," he smiled. "It grows from there."

"Are you always so vague?"

"Are you always so nosy?"

She looked him squarely in the eye. "Will you take us to New Pacifica? Please?"

He avoided her gaze, looking out at the land over her shoulder. "What did you mean when you told Ulysses he would one day understand about time travel?" he asked softly.

She hesitated, then found herself telling the Doctor about her experience with a grown-up Ulysses from the future, and how that gave her hope that they would reach New Pacifica.

"But you won't take us there, will you?" she asked again.

"And deny you that journey?" he replied. "Would I really be doing you a favor?"

"Journeys are fine, but not journeys which are deadly."

"Any journey can be deadly."

She sighed. "We have already lost lives on this journey. We've lost some very fine people who didn't deserve to die, who never deserved to have any of this happen to them. What if by giving us a lift you saved _more_ lives? What if you saved the life of my son?"

"What if I took you to New Pacifica and a tidal wave washed you all out to sea?"

"That's not an answer, and you know it."

"Devon," the Doctor said, "do I strike you as a malicious man, who would deny you aid?"

"No, you don't, which is why I can't understand why you're turning us down."

"I'm not turning you down, Devon. Believe me, I _can't_ help you."

Devon's face cleared; suddenly she understood. "You know our future, don't you?"

The Doctor was silent for a moment. Then, "Yes. Yes, I do," he said. "After the Terrians reminded me when I'd been here before, I started remembering more. And I can't tell you how I know, or how much, or how far in the future, or in what context I know. I just do. Some strands of the web of time have already crystallized along your path, Devon Adair, and if I tried to take you to New Pacifica now, _I would not be able to._ The TARDIS would end up on Mars, or 18th-century France, or Cirinus Minima, and you and the others would end up helping me fight Daleks and Cybermen and Terrileptils trying to take over _entire_ planets," – Devon let out a single laugh, despite herself – "and - and - and if you think you're lost and frustrated now, try spending three months with me! You'd be begging me to bring you right back here! We'd be able to go just about anywhere, any time...except New Pacifica, right now."

Devon smiled a wistful smile of acceptance, and nodded softly. She didn't pretend to understand all that the Doctor was trying to tell her, but she knew she could trust him. And if he said he couldn't get them to New Pacifica, then no one could.

No one but themselves.

And she knew in that moment that the Doctor existed in a realm she could never understand. He was a wanderer in space and time, able to see the entire cosmos; he lived on a grand scale, overthrowing tyrants, saving planets, keeping invading armies at bay, and making sure little boys and girls all over the galaxy slept safe in their beds at night, because he was out there, doing his best to make sure the monsters couldn't reach them.

And maybe she was alive today because the Doctor had risked his life for the human race in some long century past. And even trapped and vulnerable on this new world, with strange aliens and penal colonists and ZEDs and Council agents – she felt better knowing he would be out there amongst the stars, fighting for her, and maybe even dying for her.

Dying again and again.

"You won't forget us, will you?" she asked.

"Not for a thousand more years," he smiled, and she stepped forward and hugged him, hugged him close.

"And I envy you, Devon," he said. "This journey you're making, this family you found. In all my travels, I've witnessed it over and over again. But the biggest price I pay for my freedom is not having a family of my own."

"Well, you're always welcome here, and you know where to find us."

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I do."

She let him go, and squeezed his hand. He winked, just once and turned away. He walked to the TARDIS, his funny little police telephone box that was really a time machine. She followed him as everyone gathered around, shook hands, and said, "Thanks. Thanks for helping us out."

He said goodbye to Ulysses last of all. Strangely, he seemed more at peace with the Doctor's leaving than anyone, as if he knew it had to be. Devon wondered if her son now knew as much about time, through his Terrian link, as the Doctor did. She suspected it was so.

As the Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS, Uly asked, "Will we see you again?"

"Of course we'll see him again, Uly," Devon smiled down at her son, then looked up at the Doctor. "How else would he know what will happen to us if he hadn't met us before – in the future?"

The Doctor smiled at her in admiration. "We'll make a Time Lord out of you yet, Devon Adair."

Then, with a final wave from everyone, he shut the door. A second later, the light on top blinked and whirled, and a wheezing, groaning sound filled the air, rising and falling, growing less with each wave, and the TARDIS faded away, leaving a square patch of flattened earth.

And Eden Project _finally_ got down to the business of taking a day off.


End file.
